Abstract: A method for selecting a certificate for the authentication of an application associated with a distributor, the method comprising accessing (104) application metadata comprising an identifier (108) of the distributor and extracting (106) the identifier, receiving (110) certificates comprising one or more identifiers (114) of respective distributors and extracting (112) these identifiers, and then selecting (120) a certificate based on a comparison (116) of the identifiers extracted from the application metadata and the certificates. The association of an identifier with a distributor is managed so that certificates can only be used to authenticate applications distributed by identified distributors. In the context of digital TV, the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB®) Project performs this management task through the use of DVB Network IDs to identify distributors which are included in the extension data of the certificates as well as within the application metadata.