Certificate status authority

Definition
A certificate status authority is a trusted entity that provides on-line verification to a Relying Party of a subject certificate's trustworthiness, and may also provide additional attribute information for the subject certificate.

Source

 * NIST, Introduction to Public Key Technology and the Federal PKI Infrastructure (NIST Special Publication 800-32), Glossary, at 47 (Feb. 26, 2001) (full-text).