Digital signatures

Issue
Somebody has told me that I must make sure that the digital signature of my email must be up to date. Also, security companies have told me to make sure that I check the digital signature before opening attachments with my details in them.

How do I do all this?

Explanation
Digital signatures are a way of ensuring that a document (such as an email) is from who it says it is and hasn't been tampered with along the way.

When you receive a digitally-signed email, you can verify the certificate online. MS Outlook automatically contacts their certification authority to ensure it is correct.

"This message has an invalid Digital Signature. Open the message for more information."

If you ever receive an email and there is a problem with the digital certificate, you will be warned so that you can choose to delete the email before it has a chance to cause any problems.

Solution
The first thing to check when getting a digitally signed email is the icon appears at the top right corner of the email.

Valid digital signature This indicates a valid certificate.	Invalid digital signature This indicates an invalid certificate, which means the email has been tampered with or that the signature is invalid

If you ever receive an email and there is a problem with the digital certificate, you will be warned so that you can choose to delete the email before it has a chance to cause any problems.

To find our more information about a digital certificate, simply double click on the icon. This will bring up a window that look like this.


Clicking on the Details button will bring up a window that look like this.


By signing outgoing email with a digital certificate, your billing provider is giving customers and partners positive proof your communications with them is authentic.