Obtaining Digital Certificates

Digital certificates must be obtained from a trusted

Certificate Authority (CA). There are many CAs on the Internet, one of the most

popular ones being VeriSign. In this article we’ll take you through a

step-by-step process of getting a digital certificate from VeriSign. You can

also try it out as it gives out a 60 days trial certificate.

Step 1 Go to the Net and key in the URL–www.verisign.com–on

your Web browser. Look for the category ‘Secure E-mail’, and click on the

sub-link below it labeled ‘Personal E-mail’. Next, select the link that says

‘Try a Digital ID FREE for 60 days’ and click the ‘Enroll Now’ button.

Step 2 There are four steps to enroll and you’ll be

presented with various forms to fill in. In the first section, fill in your

name, surname, and e-mail address. Most e-commerce Websites require you to fill

in personal details and some of them accept digital certificates. So the

information in the next section, if filled, will be included in the digital

certificate. This includes your county, zip code, date of birth, and gender. The

next section is titled ‘Additional Security for your Private Key’. If you

tick the box here and submit the form, a wizard will pop up through which you

can decide whether you should be asked for a password every time you access your

key, show a warning, or nothing at all. You will then be prompted to give a name

for this item, and the password itself. Give a friendly name like ‘my key’

and then key in a password.

Step 3 After completing the enrollment, you will be mailed

(to the e-mail ID you provide in the form) a PIN of your digital certificate

along with a link. You’ll get a mail from VeriSign with the subject ‘Trial

Class 1 VeriSign Digital ID Pickup Instructions’ and a link in the main

message. Copy the Digital ID PIN and click on the link. On the Web page that

follows, paste the digital PIN and click the Submit button. You are then shown

information about your certificate. On the same page, pressing the Install

button will install the certificate on your computer. This doesn’t take very

long.

Step 4 After you’ve installed the certificate, you can see

it in Internet Explorer from Tools>Internet Options>Content. Click on the

Certificates button in this window and you’ll see your certificate. Double

clicking on the certificate name will show you some information about it.

Once you obtain a digital certificate, you can send e-mail

without worrying about it being read by an unauthorized person or being tampered

with on the way.

Shekhar Govindarajan