There are many cases when “signing” an online document only requires you to type your name and the date. However, for more sensitive documents such as legal, medical, etc something more official and secure may be necessary. When submitting such a document online, you may be required to create a Digital ID. This Digital ID takes your information such as name, email address, organization, and keeps it in a security certificate and secures your document with encryption. The following steps will show you how to create your Digital ID if you don't have one already.
Instructions
When prompted to add a Digital ID:
Step 1
Select “A new digital ID I want to create now”.
Click “Next”.
Step 2
Select “New PKCS#12 digital ID file”. If you are on a Mac, it may choose it automatically and skip by this step since "Windows Certificate Store" will not be an option.
Basically, PKCS is a "Public-Key Cryptography Standard". It bundles together everything needed to encrypt or "sign" your important document. The file it generates will have a file extension of either ".pfx" or ".p12" depending on if you are on a Windows PC or a Mac. Even though Windows and Mac create their own file extensions, your Digital ID file should be interchangeable between the two platforms if you ever need to change computers.
Click “Next”.
Step 3
Enter in the required information such as; Your Name, Email address, Organization (ex; Pennsylvania College of Technology), Organizational Unit (your department within the organization), Country/Region.
The Key Algorithm is how strong the encryption is. The higher the number, the more secure it is. 2048-bit RSA is the current standard for general use. 3072-bit or higher will give you more security, but going too secure may run the risk of a company not yet having the technology to read it. If your document includes sensitive personal information such as birth date and social security number, you may want to consider using 3072-bit or higher.
Click “Next”.
Step 4
You can now choose a location to save the file. It will have a default location filled in already. At least make note of where it is so you can find it later or back it up, but you may want to go ahead and browse to a location where it will be easier to remember.
Then enter in a password for your Digital ID. Follow any requirements it may ask of you (capital and lowercase letters, numbers, special characters, etc). There should be an indicator showing how strong you have made your password. The stronger your password the better. Confirm your password by typing it in again in the Confirm Password box.
Click “Finish”.
It would be a good idea to make a copy of the Digital ID file you created and store it on a different hard drive, backup drive, etc so that you have a copy in case anything happens to the main file or computer. Next time you need to submit a document with a Digital ID, all you need to do is point it to where you saved this file, enter your password, and you’ll be ready to go!