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Sending secure mail messages
FirstClass supports Secure Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) email encryption to send and receive encrypted and signed messages by using digital certificates. These certificates contain a public key, a private key, and a digital signature. The private key is used to decrypt message content, the digital signature is used to sign or verify the message, and the public key is used to encrypt message content. For information on sending secure mail, see
Sending secure messages in the Client help.
You can think of a signature as an individual's fingerprint; a unique identifier only for that person. This signature allows you to send and receive messages and be secure in the knowledge that you are sending and receiving information from the correct person.
To use S/MIME on your system, your users must
• install a certificate from a certificate authority
• export the certificate to a file that they will upload to the server
 Note We recommend that you become familiar with how to install and export certificates, as you may be required to walk your users through the process.
• exchange S/MIME messages to set up a secure channel between between themselves and their recipients (see Sending secure messages).
After your users complete the above tasks, you must
• upload the user's certificate
After your user exports a digital certificate and sends it to you, you must place it in the Internet Services/SSL Certificates folder on the administrator's Desktop and rename it using the your user's email address (for example, roy@huskyplanes.com).
• install a root certificate
If your user can't include the root certificate in his exported certificate, you may need to request a Root certificate from the same certificate authority as the user's certificate and place it in the Internet Services/SSL Certificates folder.
Note Depending on whether your user gets his certificates from more than one certificate authority, you may need different Root certificates and possibly Intermediate certificates. Speak with the certificate authority to verify your requirements.
Root and Intermediate certificate names must start with the characters (ca) followed by a period (.) and be less than 64 characters in total. For example, ca.thawte.
• upload all certificates the user receives from senders.
When your user sends an initial S/MIME mail message to establish a secure channel with his recipient, Internet Services automatically attaches the public key part of the certificate to the message and the recipient follows the same process.
Your user must send you the certificate he receives from his recipient and you must put it in the Internet Services/SSL Certificates folder on the administrator's Desktop. You must then rename the file to match the sender's email address (for example, lyn@othersite.com).
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