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+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+<!-- This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
+ - License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
+ - file, You can obtain one at http://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/. -->
+
+
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
+ "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd"[
+ <!ENTITY % brandDTD SYSTEM "chrome://branding/locale/brand.dtd" >
+ %brandDTD;
+]>
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+<title>Signing &amp; Encrypting Messages</title>
+<link rel="stylesheet" href="helpFileLayout.css"
+ type="text/css"/>
+</head>
+<body>
+
+<h1 id="signing_and_encrypting_messages">Signing &amp; Encrypting Messages</h1>
+
+<div class="contentsBox">In this section:
+ <ul>
+ <li><a href="#about_digital_signatures_and_encryption">About Digital
+ Signatures &amp; Encryption</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#getting_other_peoples_certificates">Getting Other
+ People&apos;s Certificates</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#configuring_security_settings">Configuring Security
+ Settings</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#signing_and_encrypting_a_new_message">Signing &amp;
+ Encrypting a New Message</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#reading_signed_and_encrypted_messages">Reading Signed &amp;
+ Encrypted Messages</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#message_security_compose_window">Message Security -
+ Compose Window</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#message_security_received_message">Message Security -
+ Received Message</a></li>
+ </ul>
+</div>
+
+<h2 id="about_digital_signatures_and_encryption">About Digital Signatures &amp;
+ Encryption </h2>
+
+<p>When you compose a mail message, you can choose to attach your digital
+ signature to it. A <a href="glossary.xhtml#digital_signature">digital
+ signature</a> allows recipients of the message to verify that the message
+ really comes from you and hasn&apos;t been tampered with since you sent
+ it.</p>
+
+<p>When you compose a mail message, you can also choose to encrypt it.
+ <a href="glossary.xhtml#encryption">Encryption</a> makes it very difficult
+ for anyone other than the intended recipient to read the message while it is
+ in transit over the Internet.</p>
+
+<p>Signing and encryption are not available for newsgroup messages.</p>
+
+<p>Before you can sign or encrypt a message, you must take these preliminary
+ steps:</p>
+
+<ol>
+ <li>Obtain one or more <a href="glossary.xhtml#certificate">certificates</a>
+ (the digital equivalents of ID cards). For details, see
+ <a href="using_certs_help.xhtml#getting_your_own_certificate">Getting Your
+ Own Certificate</a>.</li>
+ <li>Configure the security settings for your email account. For details, see
+ <a href="mailnews_account_settings.xhtml#security">Configuring Your
+ Security Settings</a>.
+ </li>
+</ol>
+
+<p>Once you have completed these steps, you can complete the instructions in
+ <a href="#signing_and_encrypting_a_new_message">Signing &amp; Encrypting a
+ New Message</a>.</p>
+
+<p>The sections that follow provide a brief overview of how digital signatures
+ and encryption work. For more technical details on this subject, see the
+ online document
+ <a href="http://developer.mozilla.org/en/Introduction_to_Public-Key_Cryptography">Introduction
+ to Public-Key Cryptography</a>.</p>
+
+<h3 id="how_digital_signatures_work">How Digital Signatures Work</h3>
+
+<p>A digital signature is a special code, unique to each message, created by
+ means of <a href="glossary.xhtml#public-key_cryptography">public-key
+ cryptography</a>.</p>
+
+<p>A digital signature is completely different from a handwritten signature,
+ although it can sometimes be used for similar legal purposes, such as signing
+ a contract.</p>
+
+<p>To create a digital signature for an email message that you are sending, you
+ need two things:</p>
+
+<ul>
+ <li>A <a href="glossary.xhtml#signing_certificate">signing certificate</a>
+ that identifies you for this purpose. Every time you sign a message, your
+ signing certificate is included with the message. The certificate includes
+ a <a href="glossary.xhtml#public_key">public key</a>. The presence of the
+ certificate in the message permits the recipient to verify your digital
+ signature.
+
+ <p>Your certificate is a bit like your name and phone number in the
+ phonebook&mdash;it is public information that helps other people
+ communicate with you.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>A <a href="glossary.xhtml#private_key">private key</a>, which is created
+ and stored on your computer when you first obtain a certificate.
+
+ <p>Your private key for a signing certificate is protected by your
+ <a href="glossary.xhtml#master_password">Master Password</a>, and the
+ &brandShortName; program does not disclose it to anyone else. The Mail
+ &amp; Newsgroup software uses your private key to create a unique,
+ verifiable digital signature for every message you choose to sign.</p>
+ </li>
+</ul>
+
+<h3 id="how_encryption_works">How Encryption Works</h3>
+
+<p>To encrypt an email message, you must have an
+ <a href="glossary.xhtml#encryption_certificate">encryption certificate</a>
+ for each of the message&apos;s recipients. The public key in each certificate
+ is used to encrypt the message for that recipient.</p>
+
+<p>If you don&apos;t have a certificate for even a single recipient, the
+ message cannot be encrypted.</p>
+
+<p>The recipient&apos;s software uses the recipient&apos;s private key, which
+ remains on that person&apos;s computer, to decrypt the message.</p>
+
+<p>[<a href="#signing_and_encrypting_messages">Return to beginning of
+ section</a>]</p>
+
+<h2 id="getting_other_peoples_certificates">Getting Other People&apos;s
+ Certificates</h2>
+
+<p>Every time you send a digitally signed message, your encryption certificate
+ is automatically included with the message. Therefore, one of the easiest
+ ways to obtain someone else&apos;s certificate is for that person to send you
+ a digitally signed message.</p>
+
+<p>When you receive such a message, the person&apos;s certificate is
+ automatically stored by the <a href="certs_help.xhtml">Certificate
+ Manager</a>, which is the part of the browser that keeps track of
+ certificates. This is useful because you need to have a certificate for each
+ recipient of any email message that you want to send in encrypted form.</p>
+
+<p>Another way to obtain certificates is to look them up in a public directory,
+ such as the <q>phonebook</q> directories maintained by many companies.</p>
+
+<p>It&apos;s also possible to look up certificates automatically. This feature
+ is controlled by
+ <a href="mailnews_preferences.xhtml#addressing_preferences">Mail &amp;
+ Newsgroups Preferences - Addressing</a> or
+ <a href="mailnews_account_settings.xhtml#addressing">Mail &amp; Newsgroups
+ Account Settings - Addressing</a>, which can be configured to look up
+ recipients&apos; email addresses in a directory.</p>
+
+<p>When you are using any account that is configured to look up addresses in a
+ directory, the same directory will be searched for matching certificates when
+ you attempt to send an encrypted message to one or more recipients for whom
+ you don&apos;t have certificates on file.</p>
+
+<p>The directory will also be searched for missing certificates when you open
+ the drop-down menu below the Security icon in the Compose window and choose
+ View Security Info.</p>
+
+<p>[<a href="#signing_and_encrypting_messages">Return to beginning of
+ section</a>]</p>
+
+<h2 id="configuring_security_settings">Configuring Security Settings</h2>
+
+<p>Once you have obtained an email certificate (or certificates), you must
+ specify the certificates you want to use for signing and encrypting
+ messages.</p>
+
+<p>For information about obtaining email certificates, see
+ <a href="using_certs_help.xhtml#getting_your_own_certificate">Getting Your
+ Own Certificate</a>.</p>
+
+<p>To specify which signing and encryption certificates to use with a
+ particular account, begin from the Mail window:</p>
+
+<ol>
+ <li>Open the Edit menu and choose Mail &amp; Newsgroups Account Settings.</li>
+ <li>Click Security under the name of the mail account whose security settings
+ you want to configure.</li>
+ <li>Under Digital Signing, click Select. (You may be asked to provide your
+ <a href="glossary.xhtml#master_password">Master Password</a> before you can
+ proceed further.)
+
+ <p>A dialog box appears that allows you to select from among your available
+ signing certificates.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>Choose the signing certificate you want to use, then click OK.</li>
+ <li>Follow the same steps under Encryption: click the Select button, select
+ the encryption certificate you want to use, and click OK.</li>
+
+ <p>In some cases you may be able to specify the same certificate under
+ Encryption that you specified under Digital Signing; check with your system
+ administrator to find out for sure.</p>
+</ol>
+
+<p>Optionally, you can also indicate that you normally want to sign or encrypt
+ all messages sent from a particular account. These account-specific settings
+ are for convenience only; you can override the default settings for
+ individual messages.</p>
+
+<p>To configure your default signing and encryption settings, start from the
+ Security panel for the account (described above) and select your settings as
+ follows:</p>
+
+<ul>
+ <li>Under Digital Signing:
+ <ul>
+ <li><strong>Digitally sign messages</strong>: When this checkbox is
+ selected, all the messages you send from this account will be digitally
+ signed unless you indicate otherwise before you send the message. To
+ turn off this default setting, deselect the checkbox.</li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+ <li>Under Encryption (choose one):
+ <ul>
+ <li><strong>Never</strong>: When this option is selected, messages you
+ send from this account will be not be encrypted unless you indicate
+ otherwise before you send them.</li>
+ <li><strong>Required</strong>: When this option is selected, all the
+ messages you send from this account will be encrypted&mdash;but only if
+ you have valid certificates for each of the message&apos;s recipients.
+ If you don&apos;t have all the necessary certificates, the message
+ can&apos;t be sent unless you turn off encryption for that message.</li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>When you have finished configuring your mail security settings, click OK to
+ confirm them.</p>
+
+<p>[<a href="#signing_and_encrypting_messages">Return to beginning of
+ section</a>]</p>
+
+<h2 id="signing_and_encrypting_a_new_message">Signing &amp; Encrypting a New
+ Message</h2>
+
+<p>Before you can digitally sign or encrypt any message, you must obtain at
+ least one email certificate and configure your mail security settings
+ correctly. For background information on these tasks, see
+ <a href="#about_digital_signatures_and_encryption">About Digital Signatures
+ &amp; Encryption</a>.</p>
+
+<p>The settings specified in
+ <a href="mailnews_account_settings.xhtml#security">Mail &amp; Newsgroups
+ Account Settings - Security</a> determine the default settings for each new
+ Compose window you open when you set out to write an email.</p>
+
+<p>To open a Compose window, start from the Mail window and click Compose. You
+ can immediately identify the default security settings from the presence or
+ absence of these icons near the lower-right corner of the window:</p>
+
+<table>
+ <tr>
+ <td><img src="chrome://messenger/skin/smime/icons/hdrSignOk.gif"
+ alt="digital signature icon"/></td><td>The message will be digitally
+ signed (assuming you have a valid email certificate that
+ identifies you).</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><img src="chrome://messenger/skin/smime/icons/hdrCryptoOk.gif"
+ alt="encryption icon"/></td><td>The message will be encrypted
+ (assuming you have valid certificates for all recipients).</td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>To turn these settings off or on, click the arrow just below the Security
+ icon in the Mail toolbar near the top of the window. Then select the item you
+ want from the drop-down list:</p>
+
+<ul>
+ <li><strong>Do Not Encrypt This Message</strong>: Choose this to turn off
+ encryption for this message. The message will not be encrypted when it is
+ sent over the Internet.</li>
+ <li><strong>Encrypt This Message</strong>: Choose this to turn on encryption
+ for this message. The message will be sent in encrypted form. However, it
+ can&apos;t be sent unless you have valid certificates for all
+ recipients.</li>
+ <li><strong>Digitally Sign This Message</strong>: Choose this to turn digital
+ signing on or off for this message. A checkmark indicates the message will
+ be signed.</li>
+ <li><strong>View Security Info</strong>: Choose this to view detailed
+ information about the security status of this message&mdash;to help you
+ determine, for example, whether you need to obtain a certificate for one of
+ the recipients.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>To view detailed information about the message&apos;s security status, you
+ can also click the key or lock icon as described in
+ <a href="#message_security_compose_window">Message Security - Compose
+ Window</a>.</p>
+
+<p>[<a href="#signing_and_encrypting_messages">Return to beginning of
+ section</a>]</p>
+
+<h2 id="reading_signed_and_encrypted_messages">Reading Signed &amp; Encrypted
+ Messages</h2>
+
+<p>When you view a signed or encrypted message in the Mail window, these icons
+ near the upper-right corner of the message header indicate the security
+ status of the message:</p>
+
+<table>
+ <tr>
+ <td><img src="chrome://messenger/skin/smime/icons/hdrSignOk.gif"
+ alt="digital signature icon"/></td><td>The message is digitally
+ signed and has been validated. If there is a problem with the signature,
+ the pen is broken.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><img src="chrome://messenger/skin/smime/icons/hdrSignUnknown.gif"
+ alt="unknown icon"/></td><td>The message is signed, but it has a
+ large attachment that has not yet been downloaded from the IMAP server.
+ As a result, the signature cannot be validated. Click the icon to
+ download the attachment and validate the signature.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><img src="chrome://messenger/skin/smime/icons/hdrCryptoOk.gif"
+ alt="encryption icon"/></td><td>The message is encrypted. If there
+ is a problem with the encryption, the key is broken.</td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>For information about certificate validation, see
+ <a href="using_certs_help.xhtml#controlling_validation">Controlling
+ Validation</a>.</p>
+
+<p>To see more detailed information about the message&apos;s security, click
+ the key or lock icon, or follow the instructions in
+ <a href="#message_security_received_message">Message Security - Received
+ Message</a>.</p>
+
+<p>[<a href="#signing_and_encrypting_messages">Return to beginning of
+ section</a>]</p>
+
+<h2 id="message_security_compose_window">Message Security - Compose Window</h2>
+
+<p>This section describes the Message Security window that you can open for any
+ message you are composing. If you&apos;re not already viewing Message
+ Security, click the Security icon in the toolbar of the Compose window.</p>
+
+<p>The Message Security window describes how your message will be sent:</p>
+
+<ul>
+ <li><strong>Digitally Signed</strong>: This line describes whether your
+ message will be signed. There are three possibilities:
+ <ul>
+ <li><strong>Yes</strong>: Digital signing has been enabled for this
+ message, you have a valid certificate identifying you, and the message
+ can be signed.</li>
+ <li><strong>No</strong>: Digital signing has been disabled for this
+ message.</li>
+ <li><strong>Not possible</strong>: Digital signing has been enabled for
+ this message. However, a valid
+ <a href="glossary.xhtml#certificate">certificate</a> identifying you
+ for this purpose is not available, or there is some other problem that
+ makes signing impossible.</li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+ <li><strong>Encrypted</strong>: This line describes whether your message will
+ be encrypted. There are three possibilities:
+ <ul>
+ <li><strong>Yes</strong>: Encryption has been enabled for this message,
+ valid certificates for all listed recipients are available, and the
+ message can be encrypted.</li>
+ <li><strong>No</strong>: Encryption has been disabled or is not possible
+ for this message.</li>
+ <li><strong>Not possible</strong>: Encryption has been enabled for this
+ message. However, a valid certificate for at least one of the listed
+ recipients is not available, or no recipients are listed, or there is
+ some other problem that makes encryption impossible.</li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>When you compose a message and select a different account, the signing
+ and encryption preferences are updated to reflect the settings of
+ the newly selected account.</p>
+
+<p>The Message Security window also lists the certificates available for the
+ recipients of your message:</p>
+
+<ul>
+ <li><strong>View</strong>: To view the details for any certificate in the
+ list, select its name, then click View.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>For more information about obtaining certificates and configuring message
+ security settings, see <a href="#signing_and_encrypting_messages">Signing
+ &amp; Encrypting Messages</a>.</p>
+
+<p>To indicate your signing or encryption choices for an individual message,
+ click the arrow beside the Security button in the Compose window, then select
+ the options you want.</p>
+
+<p>To indicate your default signing and encryption preferences for all
+ messages, see <a href="mailnews_account_settings.xhtml#security">Mail &amp;
+ Newsgroups Account Settings - Security</a></p>
+
+<p>[<a href="#signing_and_encrypting_messages">Return to beginning of
+ section</a>]</p>
+
+<h2 id="message_security_received_message">Message Security - Received
+ Message</h2>
+
+<p>This section describes the Message Security window that you can open for any
+ message you have received. If you&apos;re not already viewing Message
+ Security for a received message, follow these steps:</p>
+
+<ol>
+ <li>In the Mail window, select the message for which you want to view
+ security information.</li>
+ <li>Open the View menu and choose Message Security Info.</li>
+</ol>
+
+<p>The Message Security window displays the following information:</p>
+
+<ul>
+ <li><strong>Digital Signature</strong>: The top section describes whether the
+ message is digitally signed and if so, whether the signature is valid.</li>
+
+ <p>If validation failed while OCSP was enabled, check the OCSP settings in
+ <a href="certs_prefs_help.xhtml#privacy_and_security_preferences_certificates">Privacy
+ &amp; Security Preferences - Certificates</a>. If you are not familiar with
+ OCSP, confirm the settings with your system administrator. If your settings
+ are correct, there may be a problem with the OCSP service or the
+ certificate used to create the signature is no longer valid.</p>
+
+ <p>If the signature is invalid because of a problem with a certificate&apos;s
+ trust settings, you can use the <a href="certs_help.xhtml">Certificate
+ Manager</a> to view or edit those settings.</p>
+
+ <li><strong>View Signature Certificate</strong>: If the message is signed,
+ click this button to view the certificate that was used to sign it.</li>
+ <li><strong>Encryption</strong>: The bottom section reports whether the
+ message is encrypted and any decrypting problems.
+ <ul>
+ <li>If the message&apos;s contents have been altered during transit, you
+ should ask the sender to resend it. The changes may have been caused by
+ network problems.</li>
+ <li>If a copy of your own certificate (used by the sender to encrypt the
+ message) is not available on your computer, the private key required to
+ decrypt the message cannot be retrieved. The only solution is to import
+ a backup copy of your certificate and its private key (see
+ <a href="certs_help.xhtml#your_certificates">Your Certificates</a> for
+ details.) If you don&apos;t have access to a backup certificate, you
+ will not be able to decrypt the message.</li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>[<a href="#signing_and_encrypting_messages">Return to beginning of
+ section</a>]</p>
+
+</body>
+</html>