A digital certificate is essentially an authorized digital identity that contains information about its owner. CSOS digital certificates, issued by the CSOS Certification Authority (CSOS CA) for electronic ordering of controlled substances, contain subscriber data used for controlled substance orders. The CSOS CA acts as a "trusted party", meaning that others can trust that the information in your digital certificate is valid because the CSOS CA issued it after verifying your information. When placing an electronic controlled substance order, the order is "signed" with the digital certificate. Suppliers verify each ordering certificate with DEA before an order may be fulfilled.

CSOS Signing Certificates contain the following information:

Subscriber name Subscriber E-mail address Registrant location name as it is registrered with DEA Registrant location address as it is registrered with DEA Registrant DEA Number ("hashed", or encoded) Authorized ordering schedules Certificate validity period - ending when the associated DEA Registration expires

CSOS Administrative Certificates are issued to CSOS Coordinators for communication purposes. These Administrative Certificates are not associated with a DEA Registration and therefore are not valid for signing electronic orders for controlled substances. Administrative Certificates contain the following information:

Subscriber name - name of a CSOS Registrant or Coordinator subscriber Subscriber E-mail address Certificate validity period - ending three years from the date the certificate was issued

E-Commerce PKI Certificate and CRL Profile

The Certificate and CRL Profile contains the technical specifications for CSOS Certificates.

Click to download the Profile*

*Document is in PDF form, click to download latest version of Acrobat Reader.