Buy Starter Edition, use MeSign APP to realize the automatic email encryption and digital signatureAuto-configure publicly trusted S/MIME email certificate
1. The status and problems of email encryption
Email is a must for life and work, but email is a "postcard", which is transmitted in cleartext, which is very insecure and must be encrypted. At present, to realize email encryption, you need to use email client software that supports S/MIME certificate encryption, such as Outlook and Thunderbird, and you must apply and buy email certificate from a CA. After you get the email certificate, you need to configure it in the mail client. Send a signed email to the recipient to exchange the public key. After both parties have an email certificate and successfully exchange the public key, the two parties can send encrypted email.
This email encryption process is very cumbersome and very complicated, this makes a very good email encryption technology-S/MIME has not been popularized and applied, which directly led to the first important application of the Internet-email is still transmitted in cleartext for 50 years after it was invented! The second important application of the Internet-http, is also a cleartext transmission at the beginning, but now it has basically completed the upgrade of https encrypted transmission!
Let us return to the origin of email encryption requirement. What you need is to encrypt emails to protect privacy and business secrets, and you do not need to care about how to apply and use an email certificate. It is like you need bread instead of wheat or flour. You need an email client to encrypt and decrypt emails, and a email client that can send encrypted emails like cleartext emails. This email client is our core product - MeSign APP, which automatically apply, install and configure the email certificate, and automatically uses the certificate to realize email encryption and digital signature.
2. The current situation and problems of email certificate application
Email encryption needs email certificate, so there are many CAs around the world selling publicly trusted S/MIME email certificates, and many email client software support S/MIME email certificate signature and encryption, but why haven’t email signature and encryption been popularized for so many years? Because the whole process is too complicated, the certificate application and the certificate use are completed by two different manufacturers, and each is only responsible for its own part, which cannot be seamlessly connected to improve the user experience.
Although MeSign Technology has realized the automatic configuration of email certificates, thereby realizing S/MIME automatic email signature and encryption, greatly reducing the threshold for using email encryption and greatly improving the user experience. But the Free Edition service auto-configured email certificates are MeSign trusted only, which causes other email clients prompt untrusted warnings when MeSign APP users to send the signed email to other email client users to exchange public key, making MeSign APP users and other email client users realize S /MIME encryption still does not feel smooth. This is one of the existing problems.
The second problem is that it is very cumbersome for users to apply for email certificates from CA. After getting the certificate, it is very troublesome to import them into various email client software for use, configure the email certificates, and exchange public key with our users etc. This is the most important reason why S/MIME email encryption cannot be widely used.
MeSign Technology solves problem two, but it brings problem one. Now MeSign Technology cooperates with the world's leading CA – Sectigo, provide a charged service – Starter Edition service that automatically configure a publicly trusted S/MIME email certificate for email signature and encryption, completely solving certificate automatic configuration, automatic encryption and publicly trusted problems, this is a perfect S/MIME email encryption solution. Please also refer to "Introduction to MeSign Trusted Email Certificate and Publicly Trusted Email Certificate".
3. How to buy the Starter Edition service and use the publicly trusted Vp Email Certificate
Users can buy the "Starter Edition" service in the pricing page. Why is this service defined as the Starter Edition service? Because the email certificate automatically configured in the Starter Edition is still the same as the Free Edition that only validate the email control and does not validate the email owner’s identity. It still belongs to the basic-level email encryption and digital signature service. The difference between the two edition is that the automatically configured email certificate of the Free Edition is trusted by MeSign only, and MeSign APP display the signed email as V1 icon; while the automatically configured email certificate of the Starter Edition is a publicly trusted email certificate that trusted by all email clients, and MeSign APP display the signed email as Vp icon.
The difference for applying an email certificate from other CA is that users only need to buy the Starter Edition service. There is no process of applying for a certificate and configuring a certificate. Once the payment is completed, the publicly trusted Vp Email Certificate will be automatically installed and configured for use in MeSign APP, and automatically set as the default signing certificate and default encrypting certificate, so that when the other email clients receive the signed email sent by MeSign APP, it will display "This digital signature is trusted". Therefore, there is no certificate application guide and usage guide.
Please check the Vp Email Certificate is auto-configured in MeSign APP “Settings” – “Certificate Admin”, click “View certificate”, then you can find this certificate path, as show in right screenshot, you can see the root CA is Sectigo.
Please note: The email certificates automatically configured in MeSign APP cannot be exported to be used in other email client (including Vp Email Certificate), because we think what you need is email encryption service, not email certificate. If you use Windows MeSign APP and Outlook at the same time, MeSign APP has automatically configured this certificate for Outlook and can be used automatically. Encrypted emails can also be decrypted normally in Outlook.
MeSign APP has automatically combined the publicly trusted email certificate signature and MeSign trusted email signature with user identity information to perfectly realize the dual signature of email. The signed email can be viewed and displayed the digital signature information correctly by other email client such as Outlook, and MeSign APP will display the MeSign validated identity information, so that the recipient can easily identify the sender’s trusted identity and completely solve the problem of email fraud. As shown in the figure below, for the same one digitally signed email, MeSign APP will display the Vp icon and "Email Validated, Identity Not Validated, Digital Signature Publicly Trusted"; and the right figure is the signature information displayed by Outlook that display ”This digital signature is trusted”.
