Since many documents contain confidential information of the organization, Adobe has designed two document security protection methods for PDF files. One is to set an opening password, another is to encrypt the document with a certificate.
Setting the opening password is the easiest way, and it only require the user to safely tell the password to all authorized readers. However, encrypting the document with a certificate requires the user to have an encrypting certificate to achieve it. This method uses the public key of the encrypting certificate of the authorized reader to encrypt the document, and the authorized reader can seamlessly open and read the document directly. Only Adobe Acrobat Professional Edition provides these two document security protection methods, and the free Adobe Reader does not provide this function.
Yes. MeSign APP uses certificate to encrypt documents. If the user purchases the Document D-signature service, the document encryption function can be used for free.
When users sign a document by using MeSign APP, they will be prompted whether they need to encrypt this document. The user can choose with these 3 following options: 1. Not to encrypt. 2. Only encrypt with their own certificate, only be readable by themselves. 3. Encrypt with the certificate of the designated person, only be readable by the designated person. This encryption function can not only effectively prevent the leakage of confidential documents, but also it make the people who have the right to read this document without the sense of decrypting it. It means the designated users who has the right to read this document, can read the decrypted document in the Adobe Reader like they read other normal document without extra operations for the decryption. It simply cannot detect that the document is encrypted, and the Adobe Reader automatically decrypts it with an encrypting certificate. However, readers who do not have the right to read this document will be prompted by the Adobe reader that "This document is encrypted by digital certificate, but there is no digital certificate for decryption." or other similar warning messages. Click here to download the document encrypted with the certificate and to see if you can open it normally.
To use the document encryption function, the user must have an encrypting certificate. After logging in to his/her mailbox by using the MeSign APP, the user will be automatically configured an email encrypting certificate and V1 signing certificate for free. The MeSign document encryption function adopts the technical solution using asymmetric encryption algorithm. The common encrypting certificate used for email encryption is used for document encryption as well, so users do not need to apply for an additional document encrypting certificate, which has been automatically configured for MeSign APP users for free. When encrypting a document, the user is required to select a reader who has the right to read it. These readers must be the MeSign APP users so they all have encrypting certificates, then MeSign APP will automatically encrypt the document with the public key of these users’ encrypting certificates.
It can be seen that the user who can encrypt the document must be the user who purchased the MeSign Document D-signature service. If the organization purchased this service and their employees also purchase the identity validation service for employees, then the employees can also use the Document D-signature service and the Document Encryption Service both. However, the person who can read the encrypted documents are limited to MeSign APP users. Only MeSign APP users can use encrypting certificates for document encryption. Therefore, users can use two different services for the price of one, which is absolutely great value.
It is because the certificate encryption and certificate signing use the same technology, we have integrated document encryption function into the Document D-signature function. Users can choose only to sign the document without encryption or to encrypt the document before signing when they are signing. Why do documents need to be signed after they are encrypted? Document encryption can only guarantee that an encrypted document cannot be opened for reading even if the file has been illegally leaked to other unauthorized readers, protecting the information on the document. However, adding the signature is to prove that the identity of this document’s issuer is trusted, so that users who have the right to read this encrypted document can confirm the issuer of this document.
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