Certificate signing request

In public key infrastructure (PKI) systems, a certificate signing request (CSR or certification request) is a message sent from an applicant to a certificate authority of the public key infrastructure (PKI) in order to apply for a digital identity certificate. The CSR usually contains the public key for which the certificate should be issued, identifying information (such as a domain name) and a proof of authenticity including integrity protection (e.g., a digital signature). The most common format for CSRs is the PKCS #10 specification; others include the more capable Certificate Request Message Format (CRMF) and the SPKAC (Signed Public Key and Challenge) format generated by some web browsers.