Personal Digital Certificates

Introduction

Benefits of Using a Digital Certificate

Recipients of digitally signed email can see:-
- Whether you really sent the email or whether it was forged.
- Whether the certificate is valid (not revoked by you and not expired).
- Whether the content of the email has been altered or tampered with.
- Whether the certificate is trusted.
- Wheter the email address from which the email was sent is the same as that recorded in the certificate.
A person with a digital certificate can receive secure encrypted email that ensures privacy between the sender and the receiver.
Digital certificates conform to the X.509 OSI standard and therefore do not lock you into a proprietary solution.
A digital certificate is a more secure way of authenticating you as a user of a web site than simply a userid and password. Some web sites are starting to allow this mechanism for user autherntication. Netscape Navigator V3 and Microsoft Internet Explorer V3.01 introduced this capability.

What is a Digital Certificate

More detail comming soon....

Freemail Web of Trust (WOT)

The WOT is a convenient and low cost way to start using personal digital certificates. By becomming a Freemail Member of Thawte, you can generate and revoke as many personal digital certificates as you like, fee free. Initially, you become a member and can generate digital certificates with a Distinguished Name that contains your email address and "Freemail Member".

The next step, if you choose to, is to obtain trust assertions from Thawte WOT Notaries to enable you to replace the "Freemail Member" with your name. This process requires a face-to-face meeting with several Notaries, in which you will provide two forms of national identification, at least one of which must be a photographic identity (such as a passport or driver's licence). The Notaries then perform on-line assertions with Thawte to complete the process.

You can take a further step, and become a Thawte WOT Notary. This requires further identity assertions as described above.

How do I Obtain Notorisation

David Hunt, the principal of Systems-Go, is a Freemail WOT Notray. Just contact him to obtain details and to make an appointment. He can also refer you to other active Notaries to easily and quickly complete the assertion process.

Netscape Navigator is a product of Netscape Corporation.

Internet Explorer is a product of Microsoft Corporation.

Freemail Web of Trust is a programme of Thawte(a VeriSign company)