I have also been contemplating something similar, but came up with several reasons why
this would not be a good idea.
First, using keytool to generate a certificate is fine for development, test and even
perhaps internal use. But if the application will be interacting with users outside of the
company then you will want to get a certificate from a valid certificate authority such as
VeriSign. That of course costs money, though if you charge for your product you could
always include the cost of the certificate in the cost of the product.
Second, each customer needs its own certificate. That is, you cannot generate a single
certificate and use it for every customer. This then becomes a packaging issue - you
cannot simply generate a stack of CDs and give one to each customer - each CD has to be
custom made.
Third, the certificate has a public and private key. The more people who handle the
private key the more likely it is to be compromised. As a business concerned about
maintaining privacy, both of my own information and that of my customers (since violating
customer privacy can result in various government-imposed penalties), I would not want
anyone else to have access to my private key.
These are the ones I have thought of so far. My current thought is to offer to generate a
certificate using keytool as part of the installation of my product, or allow the customer
to provide information about the keystore that the customer has set up (presumably with a
certificate from an authority such as VeriSign) and have the installer hook up to that
keystore. While this might not be as convenient, it is more secure.
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