Chapter 5

Exporting and 

Importing Certificates


LexiGuard generates two self-signed certificates signed with the user's RSA private key, one containing the public encryption key and one containing the public verification key.

LexiGuard can also use certificates generated by Certificate Authorities. Since you need the certificate of a person in order to include them as a recipient of an encryption operation, the importing and exporting of certificates is critical.
 

Exporting Certificates

The encryption key certificate can be exported in two formats for use with web browsers and email tools: 
.cer format for Outlook Express (DER-encoded)
.p12 format for Netscape (PKCS12 format)
Note that there is a crucial difference bewteen the two formats.  The .cer format contains only the public key certificate.  The .p12 format contains both the private key (protected by a password) and the public key certificate.

Importing Certificates 

Certificates from Outlook Express and Netscape address books can be imported into LexiGuard.

From Outlook Express:

In Netscape Navigator:

You can export personal certificates for the Netscape user only—you cannot export certificates for other people.

To import the certificate in either format into LexiGuard:


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