A certificate notification method, comprising: reporting, by a first terminal, a certificate of the first terminal to a server; obtaining public key maintenance information from the server, by a first terminal, wherein the public key maintenance information comprises a public key corresponding to a certificate of each of one or more terminals within a preset area range and further comprises certificate identification information corresponding to the certificate of the corresponding terminal of the one or more terminals; receiving, by the first terminal, communication message sent by a second terminal, wherein the communication message comprises certificate identification information corresponding to a certificate of the second terminal and a signature generated by the second terminal for the communication message after the second terminal performs signature calculation on the communication message by using a private key corresponding to the certificate of the second terminal; determining, by the first terminal, based on the certificate identification information corresponding to the certificate of the second terminal and the public key maintenance information, a public key corresponding to the certificate of the second terminal; and verifying, by the first terminal, based on the public key corresponding to the certificate of the second terminal, the signature generated by the second terminal for the communication message; wherein the reporting, by a first terminal, a certificate of the first terminal to a server comprises: obtaining, by the first terminal, area configuration information, wherein the area configuration information is a division result obtained by performing area division in a unit of at least one base station, or in a unit of at least one tracking area, TA, or based on a geographical area, and each area corresponds to one area identifier; and sending, by the first terminal to the server, the certificate of the first terminal and an area identifier of the area to which the first terminal belongs in response to determining, based on the area configuration information, that an area in which the first terminal is located is changed. reporting, by a first terminal, a certificate of the first terminal to a server; obtaining public key maintenance information from the server, by a first terminal, wherein the public key maintenance information comprises a public key corresponding to a certificate of each of one or more terminals within a preset area range and further comprises certificate identification information corresponding to the certificate of the corresponding terminal of the one or more terminals; receiving, by the first terminal, communication message sent by a second terminal, wherein the communication message comprises certificate identification information corresponding to a certificate of the second terminal and a signature generated by the second terminal for the communication message after the second terminal performs signature calculation on the communication message by using a private key corresponding to the certificate of the second terminal; determining, by the first terminal, based on the certificate identification information corresponding to the certificate of the second terminal and the public key maintenance information, a public key corresponding to the certificate of the second terminal; and verifying, by the first terminal, based on the public key corresponding to the certificate of the second terminal, the signature generated by the second terminal for the communication message; wherein the reporting, by a first terminal, a certificate of the first terminal to a server comprises: obtaining, by the first terminal, area configuration information, wherein the area configuration information is a division result obtained by performing area division in a unit of at least one base station, or in a unit of at least one tracking area, TA, or based on a geographical area, and each area corresponds to one area identifier; and sending, by the first terminal to the server, the certificate of the first terminal and an area identifier of the area to which the first terminal belongs in response to determining, based on the area configuration information, that an area in which the first terminal is located is changed. obtaining, by the first terminal, area configuration information, wherein the area configuration information is a division result obtained by performing area division in a unit of at least one base station, or in a unit of at least one tracking area, TA, or based on a geographical area, and each area corresponds to one area identifier; and sending, by the first terminal to the server, the certificate of the first terminal and an area identifier of the area to which the first terminal belongs in response to determining, based on the area configuration information, that an area in which the first terminal is located is changed.