Taking a major step towards its net-centric vision to put in place a foolproof information network, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has acquired a license to issue Digital Signature Certificates (DSC) which would give legal recognition to the electronic data.

The license to issue DSC was formally handed over to the IAF chief Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne by the Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA) Dr N Vijay Aditya at Air Headquarters on Wednesday, IAF officials said in the Capital.

With this, the IAF would be able to put in place a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) to ensure information security in today's highly networked environment, the officials added.

With the capability to provide Information Assurance and Identity Management, PKI would ensure data integrity, user identification and authentication, data confidentiality, encryption and digital signature services for programs and applications on Air Force Network.

With this license, IAF would also be able to issue software and manage hardware certificates on state-of-the-art Internet Protocols (IP) on its network. IAF is the first defence force in the country and second agency after the National Informatics Center (NIC) to receive this license.