ZyXEL Communications 1000 User Manual

ZyWALL USG 1000 User’s Guide

This appendix shows you how to import public key certificates into your web 
browser. 

Public key certificates are used by web browsers to ensure that a secure web site 
is legitimate. When a certificate authority such as VeriSign, Comodo, or Network 
Solutions, to name a few, receives a certificate request from a website operator, 
they confirm that the web domain and contact information in the request match 
those on public record with a domain name registrar. If they match, then the 
certificate is issued to the website operator, who then places it on the site to be 
issued to all visiting web browsers to let them know that the site is legitimate.

Many ZyXEL products, such as the ZyWALL, issue their own public key certificates. 
These can be used by web browsers on a LAN or WAN to verify that they are in 
fact connecting to the legitimate device and not one masquerading as it. However, 
because the certificates were not issued by one of the several organizations 
officially recognized by the most common web browsers, you will need to import 
the ZyXEL-created certificate into your web browser and flag that certificate as a 
trusted authority.

Note: You can see if you are browsing on a secure website if the URL in your web 

browser’s address bar begins with  

https:// 

or there is a sealed padlock 

icon (

) somewhere in the main browser window (not all browsers show the 

padlock in the same location.)

In this appendix, you can import a public key certificate for:

• Internet Explorer on

• Firefox  on

• Opera  on

• Konqueror on

The following example uses Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP 
Professional; however, they can also apply to Internet Explorer on Windows Vista.