Abstract: A digital certificate, used in a computing system, includes a distinguished name (DN) field and a common name (CN) field within the DN field. The CN field contains a resource identifier that contains information identifying each of a plurality of resources in the certification path of the digital certificate. The resource identifier can be a hierarchical identifier that specifies an identity of a trusted root resource, and an identity of a resource issuing the digital certificate. The resource identifier can contain identifiers of resources in a certification path between the trusted root resource and the resource issuing the digital certificate. The certification path leads to a trusted source for the computing system.