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Configurations Needed for Using Certificates in Thunderbird

Reading Signed E-mails

You may have to import the Thawte Freemail Issuing CA cert into the Certificate Management utility in Thunderbird. If you see this icon then you need to import the Thawte Freemail Issuing CA as follows. Using Firefox: Tools; Options; Advanced; expand the Certificates section; press Manage Certificates button; select the Authorities tab; press Import button; navigate to the location where we have saved the certificate (V:/SCS/Security/Groups/Thawte Certs); select ThawtePersonalFreemailIssuingCA.cer; press Open button; place a checkmark in front of "Trust this CA to identify e-mail users"; press OK three times to close all the configuration windows. Now when you open a signed e-mail you should see this icon instead: . This icon shows that the certificate attached is valid.

Sending Signed E-mails

We'll assume you used Firefox to fetch your certificate so it is already in the Certificate Manager inside Firefox and Thunderbird. If you want to verify then from within Firefox or Thunderbird choose: Tools; Options; Advanced; expand the Certificates section; press Manage Certificates button. If you see it listed then it is already imported. We now need to configure Firefox to use it: Tools; Account Settings; Security; in the Digital Signing section press the Select button; choose your cert and press OK; then press OK again to use it for encryption as well; press OK to close the Account Settings window.

Sending a "signed" e-mail message:

Bring up the Compose message window; select Security icon from the top and choose "Digitally Sign This Message". In the lower right corner of the message you will now see the Mozilla icon for Message Security (). Now write and send your message as usual.

Creating a Backup Copy of your Certificate

From the Certificate Manager: select your certificate and press the Backup button. Enter a password when prompted and save it in a restricted access location on your computer or central file system.

Getting the Certificate to Your Other Computers

You should create a backup copy as described above and then go to the computer which needs the certificate. You will need to import the backup copy of the certificate into the Firefox/Thunderbird Certificate Manager. You will place it into "Your Certificates" section.