9. A computer-implemented method for evaluating the trustworthiness of executable files based at least in part on reputation information contained within digitally signed reputation certificates, the method comprising: identifying an executable file; identifying a digitally signed reputation certificate associated with the executable file; identifying, within the digitally signed reputation certificate, reputation information associated with the executable file, the reputation information including a reputation score that identifies a reputation of the executable file within a community of users, the community of users comprising a user base of a security-software publisher; upon identifying the digitally signed reputation certificate associated with the executable file: identifying at least one policy that includes criteria for determining whether the digitally signed reputation certificate will supersede a reputation-database check, the criteria including at least one of criteria for determining whether the digitally signed reputation certificate was created within a specific period of time and criteria for determining whether an online connection is available; determining, by applying the criteria, that the digitally signed reputation certificate will supersede the reputation-database check; and validating the digitally signed reputation certificate using at least one public key; evaluating the trustworthiness of the executable file based at least in part on the reputation information contained within the digitally signed reputation certificate rather than performing the reputation-database check; and allowing a computing device to execute the executable file based on a determination that the reputation score within the digitally signed reputation certificate satisfies a specified threshold; wherein the method is performed by a computing system comprising at least one hardware processor.
12. The method of claim 9 , wherein a policy file specifies the policy.