What does the Chain of Trust refer to in the context of SSL inspection?

The Chain of Trust in the context of SSL inspection refers to the sequence of trusted certificates that authenticate each other. This chain starts with a root certificate authority (CA), which is a trusted entity that issues digital certificates. Each certificate in the chain validates the identity of the next one; for example, an intermediate CA issues a certificate for a server, and the server certificate verifies the identity of the server to the client.

In SSL inspection, the Chain of Trust is crucial because it ensures that the certificates presented during the SSL handshake are valid and can be trusted. This validation process involves traversing the chain from the end-user device back to a trusted root certificate, guaranteeing that the data being decrypted is from a legitimate source. Without a properly validated chain, the SSL inspection process could potentially compromise security by allowing invalid or malicious certificates to be accepted.

The other choices do not accurately reflect the concept of the Chain of Trust in SSL inspection. The time taken to decrypt SSL traffic, the protocol used for secure data transmission, and the number of users connected to the inspection service do not pertain to the validation of certificates and the relationships between them, which is at the heart of the Chain of Trust.