Driver Certificate

Figure 1. Driver Certificate

The driver certificate window can be used to change the certificate used for encryption driver-related passwords or other sensitive information to be stored on internal DPs. If the certificate is not changed, a default certificate will be used, which is not secure because the private key is part of the WinCC OA installation. To be on the safe side, a certificate should be generated after the project has been created. It is important to note that changing this certificate will invalidate any encrypted information stored on internal datapoints.

  • Select the key width of the certificate. The higher the width, the more secure the certificate.
  • Then click on Create button. The certificate is created and the public key is saved in the internal datapoint _DriverSecurity.PublicKey and the private key in the config directory of the project.
    CAUTION:
    Encrypted information of certificates is saved in an internal datapoint (see above). When you change a certificate, the information becames invalid and must be re-entered.

Certificate Verification

When you press the Verify button, the system checks if the current driver certificate configuration is valid. A dialog box will appear, which will either confirm that the settings are correct or show one of the following errors:

  • The driver_private.key file is missing from the project configuration directory.
  • The DPE _DriverSecurity.PublicKey is not found.
  • OpenSSL verification failed. If this happens, the dialog will also display the related OpenSSL error.
  • The public and private keys do not match.