Technology and Tools: SimpleCAPI
This week’s tool, SimpleCAPI, is brought to you by Gemini Security Solutions. This is how it is described on the Gemini Security web site:
Our custom application, SimpleCapiUI provides the ability to quickly check the revocation status of certificates stored in CAPI, but it also provides drag-and-drop functionality so that a user can install certificates into CAPI by dragging a certificate, PKCS#12 key file, or PKCS #7 signature file onto the interface.
Additionally, an entire folder may be dropped into the application and SimpleCapiUI will scan the folder recursively to find certificates to install. By reducing the complexity of dealing with the Windows certificate store, SimpleCapiUI streamlines the process of testing PKI-enabled software.
This covers just about all of the features that the SimpleCAPI application implements, but the utility of these simple features saves quite a bit of time when testing PKI capabilities of applications. The drag-and-drop feature that allows importing a folder of certificates into CAPI makes installing test PKIs a lot more efficient.
For example, on my development machine, I have a script that uses OpenSSL to create a two-tiered PKI with a root certificate, intermediate certification authority, end user, timestamp authority and OCSP certificates. After running this script, I can drag the folder containing the script into the SimpleCAPI interface, and after entering the password common to all of the PKCS12 files, all of the certificates in the PKI are imported into CAPI with the appropriate trust settings. This allows me to create and install an entire test PKI in a minute or two, without having to click through the certificate import wizard a dozen times.
If you have to perform a lot of PKI-based application testing, SimpleCAPI can make deployment of testing certificates a lot simpler.
Each Thursday, Security Musings features a security-related technology or tool. Featured items do not imply a recommendation by Gemini Security Solutions. For more information about how Gemini Security Solutions can help you solve your security issues, contact us!