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Getting Started Guide
 
This guide will help you getting started, sending signed and encrypted e-mail. For easy reference this guide has been divided into two parts. One for Outlook Express users and one for Netscape Messenger users.
You can navigate easily by clicking on a link in the table of contents below, or just browse through the document.
 

Outlook Express
  Digitally signing messages
 
  Encrypting messages
 
  Receiving encrypted or signed messages
 
  Administrating contacts
 

Netscape Messenger
 
  Digitally signing messages
 
  Encrypting messages
 
  Receiving encrypted or signed messages
 
  Administrating contacts
   

Outlook Express
 
The first step when using Outlook Express is to enable/activate your new certificate, so that Outlook Express knows which certificate to use when signing or encrypting your messages.
 

To choose your standard certificate:
 
 
  1. Click on the Tools menu and scroll to Accounts
  2. In the E-mail tab, select your e-mail account and click on Properties
  3. Click on the Security tab
  4. Click on the uppermost Select button. A new box appears, select your AddTrust2Mail certificate and click O
  5. Repeat step 4, this time by clicking on the lower Select button.
  6. Now click OK to close this box. Continue clicking OK until you are back at the main screen.
 
 
You have just activated your AddTrust2Mail certificate! The next step is to learn how to send digitally signed messages...
 
^Top

Digitally signing messages.

 
What is a digital signature?
 
Lets imagine you are to send a postcard. First you write on the back of the card, stamp it and post it. But what if someone were to add text to it after you have posted it? What if someone altered the contents?
 
The Internet works in a similar way, the e-mails we are sending can be altered by others. But there is a way to solve this, when sending postcards we can use envelopes, and when sending e-mail we can use digital signatures. Digital signatures is the digital equivalent to ordinary envelopes.
 
We can easily check that someone hasn’t altered the contents by making sure the envelope is still sealed when it arrives, the process works the same way with digital signatures.
 

Signing individual messages.
 
How to sign an outgoing message:
 
 
  1. In the New Message window click on the Sign Message icon. This adds your Digital Signature to the message. This is represented by an icon to the right of the address pane. If you accidentally clicked on the Sign Message button and don’t want it signed, just click again and the signature will be removed.
 
 

Signing all messages.

 
There is also an option to sign all outgoing messages
 
  1. Click on the Tools menu and scroll to Options.
  2. Click on the Security tab.
  3. Enable the “Digitally sign all outgoing messages” checkbox.
 
 
^Top

Encrypting messages.

 
What is encryption?
 
Do you remember the postcard we sent? We used an envelope to protect the contents, but what if there is someone curious enough to open the envelope? Maybe the information you wrote is secret?
That’s when we use encryption. Encryption is simply a way to rearrange the information in a way that makes it hard or even impossible for others to read. But if it’s impossible to read, what about the recipient?
 
What we do is that we rearrange the information using some sort of scheme, if the recipient uses the same scheme they can read the text again.
 
Your certificate has two keys attached to it, almost like a key ring. One is your private key and the other one is your public key. When you sign or encrypt a message you automatically attach a copy of your public key and send it along to the recipient. The recipient can then use your public key to encrypt messages to you. Messages encrypted with your public key, can only be decrypted by your private key.  The only one that has access to your private key is yourself.
 
So as long as you keep your private key protected your encrypted email will be safe!
 

Encrypting individual messages.

 
How to encrypt a message:
 
  1. In the New Message window, click on the Encrypt Message button. This will encrypt your message as long as you have the recipients public key in your address book. A status indicator will appear to the right of the address pane, indicating encryption for this  message is turned on. To turn it off, click the Encrypt Message button again, and the status indicator will disappear.
 
 

Encrypting all messages.
 
There is also an option to encrypt all outgoing messages:
 
  1. Click on the Tools menu and scroll to Options
  2. Click on the Security tab.
  3. Enable the "Encrypt contents and attachments for all outgoing messages" checkbox.
 
 
^Top

Receiving Encrypted and/or Signed messages.

 
When someone sends encrypted or signed e-mail to you Outlook Express will automatically decrypt the message and an icon to the right of the address pane will indicate if the message was signed or encrypted.
 

Checking the validity of certificates.

 
After receiving encrypted or signed e-mail, you can check the attached certificate to see if it is valid:
 
  1. Click on one of the icons to the right of the address pane.
  2. A new window appears, in this windows you can see if the certificate is valid.
  3. When you are done, click the OK button.
 
 
^Top

Contacts

 
As we learned a moment ago, we need the public key of the intended recipient to be able to encrypt e-mail to that recipient. Every time someone sends a signed or encrypted message to you, their certificate containing their public key is attached. This key can then be extracted and stored in your address book.
 

Adding a certificate to a contact.
 
After you have received a certificate from someone you can add it to your address book:
 
  1. Click on the icon representing a signed or encrypted message, this icon is located to the right of the address pane
  2. A new window appears, click the View Certificate button.
  3. In the window that appears click the Add to address book button. This will search for a match in your address book and attach your certificate to this contact. If none is found a new contact will be created.
  4. Click the OK buttons until you are back at the main screen
 
 

Removing a certificate from a contact.

 
To remove a certificate from a contact:
 
  1. Right click the contact, select Properties.
  2. Click in the Digital ID tab.
  3. Select the certificate you want to remove.
  4. Click the Remove button.
 
 

Viewing a certificate attached to a contact.

 
If you want to view or verify a certificate attached to a contact:
 
  1. Right click the contact, select Properties.
  2. Click the Digital ID tab.
  3. Select the certificate you want to view or verify.
  4. Click the Properties button.
 
 
^Top

Netscape Messenger.

 
This guide will help you getting started, using Netscape Messenger to send digitally signed and encrypted messages.

Digitally signing messages.
 
What is a digital signature?
 
Lets imagine you are to send a postcard. First you write on the back of the card, stamp it and post it. But what if someone were to add text to it after you have posted it? What if someone altered the contents?
 
The Internet works in a similar way, the e-mails we are sending can be altered by others. But there is a way to solve this, when sending postcards we can use envelopes, and when sending e-mail we can use digital signatures. Digital signatures is the digital equivalent to ordinary envelopes.
 
We can easily check that someone hasn’t altered the contents by making sure the envelope is still sealed when it arrives, the process works the same way with digital signatures.
 

Signing Individual messages.

 
  1. In the composition window, click the Options button
  2. Enable the signed checkbox.
 

Signing all messages.

 
To sign all outgoing messages by default:
 
  1. In the composition window, open the Communicator menu and select Tools then Security Info.
  2. Click the Messenger link.
  3. Enable the “Sign messages when possible” checkbox.
 
^Top

Encrypting Messages.

 
What is encryption?
 
Do you remember the postcard we sent? We used an envelope to protect the contents, but what if there is someone curious enough to open the envelope? Maybe the information you wrote is secret?
 
That’s when we use encryption. Encryption is simply a way to rearrange the information in a way that makes it hard or even impossible for others to read. But if it’s impossible to read, what about the recipient?
 
What we do is that we rearrange the information using some sort of scheme, if the recipient uses the same scheme they can read the text again.
 
Your certificate has two keys attached to it, almost like a key ring. One is your private key and the other one is your public key. When you sign or encrypt a message you automatically attach a copy of your public key and send it along to the recipient. The recipient can then use your public key to encrypt messages to you. Messages encrypted with your public key, can only be decrypted by your private key.  The only one that has access to your private key is yourself.
 
So as long as you keep your private key protected your encrypted email will be safe!
 

Encrypting individual messages.
 
  1. In the composition window, click the Options button
  2. Enable the Signed checkbox.
 

Encrypting all messages.
 
To encrypt all outgoing messages by default:
 
  1. In the composition window, open the Communicator menu and select Tools then Security Info.
  2. Click the Messenger link.
  3. Enable the “Encrypt mail messages when possible” checkbox.
 
 
^Top

Receiving Encrypted and/or Signed messages.

 
When you receive an encrypted or signed e-mail, Netscape Messenger will decrypt the message automatically. The appropriate icon will be visible to tell you if the message was signed or encrypted. The senders certificate will automatically be added to your address book
 

Checking the validity of certificates.

 
After receiving an encrypted or signed message, you can check the validity of the certificate:
 
  1. Click on the Security button.
  2. Click on the People link.
  3. Select the certificate you want to verify.
  4. Click the verify link.
  5. A window will appear, this window will tell you if the certificate was successfully verified.
 
^Top

Contacts

 
As we learned a moment ago, we need the public key of the intended recipient to be able to encrypt e-mail to that recipient. Every time someone sends a signed or encrypted message to you, their certificate containing their public key is attached. This key can then be extracted and stored in your address book.

Adding a certificate to a contact.

 
In Netscape Messenger there is no need to add certificates manually, as this is done automatically each time you receive a signed or encrypted e-mail.
 

Removing a certificate from a contact.
 
To remove a certificate:
 
  1. Open the Communicator menu and select Tools then Security Info.
  2. Click on the People link.
  3. Select the certificate that you want to remove.
  4. Click on the Delete button.
 

Viewing a certificate attached to a contact.
 
If you want to view a certificate:
 
  1. Open the Communicator menu and select Tools then Security Info
  2. Click on the People link.
  3. Select the certificate that you want to view.
  4. Click the view button.
  5. A windows will appear, displaying the contents of the certificate.
 
^Top
 
 
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