Adobe 22002486 Digital Signature User Guide - Page 12

Digital ID Storage Mechanisms

Page 12 highlights

Acrobat 9 Family of Products Security Feature User Guide Figure 1 Digital ID: Components Getting and Using Your Digital ID Digital ID Storage Mechanisms 12 Users exchange their digital ID's certificate so that they can validate signatures and encrypt documents for each other. Shared certificates can be physically sent in a file or made available over a network. The private key is never shared and is used to decrypt documents. There are several ways to share certificates:  Physical sharing: Certificates can be physically shared in a file sent via email or located in a shared directory. They can be imported, exported, and otherwise managed with the Trusted Identity Manager. For details, see Chapter 3, "Managing Certificate Trust and Trusted Identities".  Network sharing: Certificates can be stored on a central server. The Trusted Identity Manager can be used to search for certificates on LDAP directory servers. Adobe applications provide tools for configuring and managing directory servers. For details, see "Using Directory Servers to Add Trusted Identities" on page 38. Figure 2 Trusted identities 2.1.2 Digital ID Storage Mechanisms A digital ID's certificate and private key need to be stored in a secure location. There are several file types and file locations where these items could be stored (Table 2). The digital ID data in these files is provided to the application via digital ID service providers (sometimes called Cryptographic Service Providers or CSPs). A service provider is simply a storage mechanism and code that makes the data available to the application. In most cases, the digital ID is stored on a local or networked file. Common locations include the Windows Certificate Store which is accessible by Adobe applications and other Windows applications and the Acrobat store which is used only by the Acrobat family of products. Some IDs may exist only on external hardware such as a smart card connected to the computer. The Acrobat family of products can access a digital ID from the following storage mechanisms:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • 75
  • 76
  • 77
  • 78
  • 79
  • 80
  • 81
  • 82
  • 83
  • 84
  • 85
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90
  • 91
  • 92
  • 93
  • 94
  • 95
  • 96
  • 97
  • 98
  • 99
  • 100
  • 101
  • 102
  • 103
  • 104
  • 105
  • 106
  • 107
  • 108
  • 109
  • 110
  • 111
  • 112
  • 113
  • 114
  • 115
  • 116
  • 117
  • 118
  • 119
  • 120
  • 121
  • 122
  • 123
  • 124
  • 125
  • 126
  • 127
  • 128
  • 129
  • 130
  • 131
  • 132
  • 133
  • 134
  • 135
  • 136
  • 137
  • 138
  • 139
  • 140
  • 141
  • 142
  • 143
  • 144
  • 145
  • 146
  • 147
  • 148
  • 149
  • 150
  • 151
  • 152
  • 153
  • 154
  • 155
  • 156
  • 157
  • 158
  • 159
  • 160
  • 161
  • 162
  • 163
  • 164
  • 165
  • 166
  • 167
  • 168
  • 169
  • 170
  • 171
  • 172
  • 173
  • 174
  • 175
  • 176
  • 177
  • 178
  • 179
  • 180
  • 181
  • 182
  • 183
  • 184
  • 185
  • 186
  • 187
  • 188
  • 189

Acrobat 9 Family of Products
Getting and Using Your Digital ID
Security Feature User Guide
Digital ID Storage Mechanisms
12
Figure 1
Digital ID: Components
Users exchange their digital ID’s certificate so that they can validate signatures and encrypt documents for
each other. Shared certificates can be physically sent in a file or
made available over a network. The private
key is never shared and is used to decrypt documents. There are several ways to share certificates:
Physical sharing
: Certificates can be physically shared in a file sent via email or located in a shared
directory. They can be imported, exported, and otherwise managed with the Trusted Identity Manager.
For details, see
Chapter 3, “Managing Certificate Trust and Trusted Identities”
.
Network sharing
: Certificates can be stored on a central server. The Trusted Identity Manager can be
used to search for certificates on LDAP directory servers. Adobe applications provide tools for
configuring and managing directory servers. For details, see
“Using Directory Servers to Add Trusted
Identities” on page 38
.
Figure 2
Trusted identities
2.1.2
Digital ID Storage Mechanisms
A digital ID’s certificate and private key need to be stored in a secure location. There are several file types
and file locations where these items could be stored (
Table 2
). The digital ID data in these files is provided
to the application via digital ID service providers
(sometimes called
Cryptographic Service Provider
s or
CSPs). A service provider is simply a storage mechanism and code that makes the data available to the
application.
In most cases, the digital ID is stored on a local or networked file. Common locations include the Windows
Certificate Store which is accessible by Adobe applications and other Windows applications and the
Acrobat store which is used only by the Acrobat family of products. Some IDs may exist only on external
hardware such as a smart card connected to the computer.
The Acrobat family of products can access a digital ID from the following storage mechanisms: