Free CompTIA Network+ N10-009 Practice Question

A self-signed certificate is primarily used to validate identity and enable encrypted connections without reliance on external Certificate Authorities (CAs). Unlike certificates issued by CAs, self-signed certificates are generated and signed by the organization or individual using them, making them useful in environments where trust is already established internally, but less reliable for public-facing applications due to the lack of external validation. This is because the responsibility for both creating and verifying the certificate lies with the same entity, potentially leaving it less secure under certain circumstances.