<s>
In	O
cryptographic	O
systems	O
with	O
hierarchical	O
structure	O
,	O
a	O
trust	B-General_Concept
anchor	I-General_Concept
is	O
an	O
authoritative	O
entity	O
for	O
which	O
trust	O
is	O
assumed	O
and	O
not	O
derived	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
X.509	O
architecture	O
,	O
a	O
root	B-Protocol
certificate	I-Protocol
would	O
be	O
the	O
trust	B-General_Concept
anchor	I-General_Concept
from	O
which	O
the	O
whole	O
chain	O
of	O
trust	O
is	O
derived	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
trust	B-General_Concept
anchor	I-General_Concept
must	O
be	O
in	O
the	O
possession	O
of	O
the	O
trusting	O
party	O
beforehand	O
to	O
make	O
any	O
further	O
certificate	B-Protocol
path	I-Protocol
validation	I-Protocol
possible	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Most	O
operating	O
systems	O
provide	O
a	O
built-in	O
list	O
of	O
self-signed	O
root	B-Protocol
certificates	I-Protocol
to	O
act	O
as	O
trust	B-General_Concept
anchors	I-General_Concept
for	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Firefox	B-Application
web	I-Application
browser	I-Application
also	O
provides	O
its	O
own	O
list	O
of	O
trust	B-General_Concept
anchors	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
end-user	O
of	O
an	O
operating	O
system	O
or	O
web	O
browser	O
is	O
implicitly	O
trusting	O
in	O
the	O
correct	O
operation	O
of	O
that	O
software	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
software	O
manufacturer	O
in	O
turn	O
is	O
delegating	O
trust	O
for	O
certain	O
cryptographic	O
operations	O
to	O
the	O
certificate	B-Architecture
authorities	I-Architecture
responsible	O
for	O
the	O
root	B-Protocol
certificates	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
