Encrypting Data with Guard

Key Management

Managing own S/MIME keys

You have the following options:

How to add a new S/MIME key:

  1. Click the Settings icon in the menu bar. Click on All settings.

    Click on Guard in the left pane. Click on S/MIME in the right pane.

    Enable Enable S/MIME.

  2. Click on Upload private certificate. The Upload S/MIME Keys window opens.

    Enter the following passwords:

    • Your Guard security password for uploading the new key.

    • A new password for encrypting emails.

      Confirm the new password.

    Click on OK. Select a file with a valid S/MIME certificate.

    The new key will be entered on top of your key list. The new key becomes the current key.

How to view your own S/MIME keys:

  1. Click the Settings icon in the menu bar. Click on All settings.

    Click on Guard in the left pane. Click on S/MIME in the right pane.

    Enable Enable S/MIME.

  2. To display details for a key, click the Manage keys icon next to a key. The Key Details window opens.

    To view the key's signatures, click on Signatures.

How to manage your existing S/MIME keys:

  1. Click the Settings icon in the menu bar. Click on All settings.

    Click on Guard in the left pane. Click on S/MIME in the right pane.

    Enable Enable S/MIME.

  2. Click the Manage keys icon next to a key. Use the following functions.

    • If your key list contains more than one key, you can define the current key. To do so, click on Mark current. From now on, the current key will be used for encryption.

    • To download a private key, click on Download.

      Define whether to download your private key only, your public key only or both keys.

      Caution: Your private key will be downloaded in encrypted form. You should not download your private key to a publicly accessible system, though.

    • In order to revoke or delete a private key, click on Delete. The Delete Private Key window opens. Notes:

      • if you revoke a key, it will no longer be used. But you can still decrypt objects that have been encrypted with this key. For this reason, revoking a key is better than deleting it.

      • Warning: If you delete a private key, you can no longer decrypt objects that have been encrypted with this key.

      You have the following options:

      • To revoke a private key, click on Revoke.

        Enter the password for the private key. If required, select a reason for revoking the key.

        Click on Revoke.

        You can also click on Revoke in the menu.

      • In order to delete a private key, click on Delete.

        Enter the password for the private key.

        Click the Delete button.

Related topics:

Parent topic: Key Management