Digital Certificates

Why use digital certificates?

Digital Certificates (DC) consists of two parts, the Private Key and the Public Key. By uploading the Public Key to the ElectronicTender System you can use your Private Key to log in, sign documents, and perform other significant activities on the system. Their security is proven enough that the E-Sign Act of 2000 was passed, declaring that these digital signatures carry the same weight as a pen and paper signatures.

With a digital signature you can sign your document with your private key to create a "hash". This can then be sent to a recipient who can be certain that it was you who sent the document. They do this by using your public key to match the particular encoding created by your private key. If any part of the document had been changed after you signed it the hash would also change, thus no longer matching the public key. This will indicate that the document the recipient has is not the original document.

The reverse is also possible. Someone could send you a document signed with your public key, which encrypts the message. In this way he can be certain that only you can read the document since it requires your private key to be decrypted.

Note: A document can be signed both with your private key and the recipient’s public key.

For more information on DCs please check with a Certifying Authority (CA) - a company that issues DCs - such as Entrust (http://www.entrust.com/) or VeriSign (http://www.verisign.com).