Share via


Outlook: Secure your email by using a free digital signature

Secure your email by using a digital signature is an option to make your email more secure. A digital signature isn't the same as a signature you routinely include with an outgoing message. Anyone can copy an email signature, which essentially is a customisable closing salutation. But your digital signature, which includes your certificate and public key, originates from your digital ID. And that digital ID serves as your unique digital mark and signals the recipient that the content hasn't been altered in transit. It seems like a complicated task to make this happens, but it is very easy to setup with the following steps:

Get a digital ID from Comodo

Sign up an account with Comodo service

  • Go to Comodo website or click the following link

https://www.comodo.com/home/email-security/free-email-certificate.php

  • Click FREE DOWNLOAD button

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Kq9S9qR4VAMEfBTBOrTx3uxkybjSgfjPrpEvzE-fadprdTDi6ZZYbT_AZLtQiVZVyIDQxcY_smIAWH0PdUuwksVzvL6uGdtOuUFTPRB3QY0pNSc08CCO2IhrkTd3s6-wzhJLTas

  • There will be a pop-up windows dialog box, Web Access Confirmation, asks your permission to let the website perform a digital certification operation on your behalf.
  • Click Yes to accept

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/KIBAXE056UtfurvDeElEGdZOp_02tShOmXwIfUNtKRqY0AtJgCbmGXf4_286TMeB2H1Aj6EsEHvYk1fTptwTGeHL9FquEifzc1QbJZhh1dY0PLEjF2czZlP22S0Tn3I-OyKMvAU

  • Enter your first name, last name, email (which you intend to get the certificate for), and select Country.
  • Enter revocation password
  • Select Accept agreement term checkbox.
  • Click NEXT.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Oo9ktZToNj2LkRbA885LV0ZpWThmp3xVx36-Wf6HF7G0Cs7yFmUyoErHIL4FslsOcdTkxNn9Hiqw_hQ_0MlirKnvBm-_CLqWx5oLs3RWv-VBpOn9cM3RwKALyhpllhsoFnwAL3U

  • Click Yes one more time to accept the digital certification operation

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Z8McWTTRI_dEjINSz_X09CXfDc7w6v5nM5izf-lNuBPgbFXiYNxnzzmIH4m1yt8vkFjeCaQyTfNS_SEp188dFHPqBgH6kwphxXKpyg_rcXJbw1tIxVMJqR7Uy-FJWRjlx4jswJM

  • You will see a confirmation page as below. Now is time to go to your mailbox, check an email from Comodo and get the digital certification to your email address.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/9UyOMvIUFqxHEkYbHR6mP9c-KoTSXLMVi5lik30vzohfPK9s_1h1tL0RkawHT8riBaMSshnaFW-BbWk6CNwaS7Wa5tukq6HO4-yTCdqpjB4T1UbtxMNSe0hbcOZgRskW9nD2ngk

 

Download Digital Cert file from Comodo email

  • From the welcome email from Comodo, you will have all information you need to download/get your digital certification. The following picture demonstrates how to get the cert file.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/Y9vWjadCFpFKXNerebKvbCTtPL8yglWf95lkLvunjiasj3PNKCstyZsFT5_FUabqk7La0qXJJY3fPvGTBS2WvQYx1fChGV0DYBZf9_unP80obr6EE6tN5X2hTr7IcfZM-LFY8jE

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/zYduSwLFvXdXH-9teJj5IFUPnpFlY712VA35WVTVHyAt0cA4ke5h_w_4UWHqLbJP30EvGLL0-MmVqWqI1o97WzmOu13TWo9_MmJ-53tPMig8EuzXLcpLwNJ_mr0GuArqUfvrz74

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/xifVh-oyf7pV_j0T-gWejMizm6sL20qb6mrkScFpmJRtqo432w_zdE9AePSmiMPVCVsztcJ-nqXGpeaR5Y7bylIrSsZ0VdWfGvrTEBzERxOx-EJAUwGJCW0uvY_jpusMfvmyjGQ

Install Digital Certificate on your computer

  • Click the cert file you downloaded from Comodo website
  • Click Install Certificate… button
  • Keep default settings for all next steps

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/7I16LXGHbxVoWacgdMvb9oitMtNKM_-7YVlG-K5O4wsyOc8tB6K40w4Yf-KUrIYZ7rH1y9gEFBJmH02N39irKq0hck4nxNiApPvJcnQS3-bgb7-U0jyW9eONu7G890aCT2lQEtQ

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/uKzdQ5jxpVu6ou-EqW6REuIOvggJvkC77aBIT9_pbnB_BNHlpsFusz70cqddGIJK5Q4tzxngfjxKAnLkDfr6unphqZyvsZF16pQknUQ55fGH8U2h6zmdROyBbrn3JOQp0ucAhA0

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/5W7vzdln5U2wpp7nV_9up7xwg6tXu_0DseRR-ChaMLO9oEDqMzQPuKEW1QZRMfjE-dgAVtOb8IlF5HRu94dh93nQ7rCStobKCGAxoOp7cho865ITRY3EnnX9-oGVydwltT_H_94

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Ls5IMW9vsZxhwsjMVmP1rU8m5s5dsZd2w19ZCjrRDUEbYt29BHXrq6Ig0vzY41y0t18U3mjymZNNM6UIdgbF4W-JCQEveuAZN_Lfjh6zIM3Ot672dlLdSQ7ZJebfElan7Zb4Oi8

  • Click Finish button to complete the installation.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/rkOnCKMJ9U5b6e6zBR-huhn79f751Q1r_X7EH8iMnkNW78jR-ElTv8n-tOEXDzfPHGKRqE6l5hNP4ecJWPNTfU6m8fUD_QL2tZ9FMbqGiPLwMLvalrpzNtMvW9YIZfVH9j6nlQs

Configuring a digital signature in Outlook

The following steps are performed in Outlook 2016

  • Open Outlook desktop application
  • Click File menu ⇒ Options
  • From the Outlook Options windows box, click on Trust CenterTrust Center Settings...

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/14X_0fRZh_KmdgbWdq_GXvFSMLr6bnvq1f6Tu9ojal_m55upasy6HFB7I-GxnYEpNGlTXz6vdjA9CJQ7sYqzkDDxx15w-tK4KN8R5Wkpbpoe7u3XSBdHtNWpX2Y6y3vyyQqCK9k

  • From the Trust Center dialog box, click Email Security from the left panel.
  • On the right/main panel, select Add digital signature to outgoing messages check box.
  • Optional: If you want to verify that your digitally signed message was received unaltered by the intended recipients, select the Request S/MIME receipt for all S/MIME signed messages check box
  • Click Settings button to open the** Change Security Settings** dialog box

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/c2F_RYu86r-hzl5FUj2VyPV8pLDzIR8afE37j9tbcl6WjI2oYwTUHBAY0bC_SlyyFAGSI2kvQ3BordSxvedryK8uvRsUXKeIR6-UFNJp37FjJcUv3bXUN4vvJhdLm5skn5qktAM

  • (1) Enter a name for the Security Settings Name.
  • (2) Select the Default Security Setting for this cryptographic message format checkbox
  • (3) Select the Default Security Setting for all cryptographic messages checkbox
  • (4) Click Choose button to select the digital certificate you installed previously

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wTwcW8Xp48aA4_MJlKYUL-f90wnCm2_4W51jGY_IPpcWZaLrFclK412DFLm0jhWmMT-hMuFi7P18deTneKnC352cVP2Onr19op96etmYrX_vS7b2jkxitEjDYEqqrnGxL4cL-58

  • Select the certificate then click OK

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/dEsp19dp20uARZbcmBMs_Ehui-JAodKO58YCFxWfc-3q52xayDXZAL0LWvFLFWTDpRO0GzLF57iSnjdZ2jRGSv3gsLf6uaM4nnBh_HyYiwf0QEBkFnv1cK99wspNZH2ya3c7ke8

  • Click OK one more time to confirm the security settings

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/6Iaaa4D-CbPVkKb4hKB3IAfe37f_4YU0hbIh-ZQeoGeR-oGvhPh2CwWpoPCE4X52r3WT-y6c93wQU1tsR-r1gu7D7jzAeuR7NEP5Lo4A-hLOtIgMIyFjUsRgN3Cs8FfHHZ6GtGY

  • Verify the encrypted email settings. It should look like as below

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/AI6X8e8-TZFS4zG8GBvIhWU48Svg33fH4t_1jh8MYTMmYxSsB4CIURLRmr76fzAachszemfNa8ZwLTFBwe184Oj5GNoHWHUS0OdxZYp7c48kYXcQEmJPxfuxjnetmVYihjA_Qlk

Sending email by using a digital signature

Now is time to send your email securely. From the New email windows box, click Options tab. In the Permission section, make sure the Sign button is selected.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/BfGKp7EhBiS94GPYqCbB7CpyNwdLsMfPCCjTKe-3uPP9c5y9GPzumVhYCteS5NhwdSsgQIQ5vRJR1U3GAjtSlDdIQUtkK_XL3629nNTjAxoSgjmhQQWConT9a_oVkMnBoFuA1oY

An email receiver will receive an email which includes Signed by information as below.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/5omMytoLO7dOPWJlXQ3kcFZr2PIPOH2yMO86l1rBikIfkie55ElxEfNweHmNDtxN7iku7pHBXZUhFmJZK_O9a-2OkfTtEqGqxsu7VmWwDFNYsJVHMluzI0PBFlIoahRbFJYQBBA