As security is essential in communications through electronic networks, development of structures providing high levels of security is needed. Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is a way of providing security measures by implementing the means of key pairs among users. In this paper, an overview of the public key infrastructure is discussed that includes various components and operation, some well known PKIs and their comparisons. Also we discuss current implementations, risk and challenges of PKIs.

The level of complexity and risks associated with software are increasing exponentially because of competing environment especially in geographically distributed projects. Global software development (GSD) face challenges like distance, communication and coordination challenges. The coordination and communication challenges are the main causes of failure in GSD. Project Oriented Risk Management (PRORISK) is one of the models to address the importance of risk management and project management processes in standard software projects. However, existing model is not proposed to handle GSD associated risks. This warrants the proposal of new PRORISK model to manage the risks of GSD. Survey is used as a research design to validate the proposed solution. We anticipate that the proposed solution will help the software companies to cater the risks associated with GSD.