Rocky Oliver is a Thawte "Web of Trust" Notary
Category
Bookmark :
Most of us are familiar with the concept of using dual-key encryption to sign and/or encrypt documents. We do it all the time, as a matter of course, in Lotus Notes/Domino. However the security and trust provided by signing with a certificate is not widely available for internet email, documents, and sites. Well, maybe it isn't widely used, but I am here to tell you that it is available - for free. Thawte is a certification agency that is similar to Verisign (and is actually owned by Verisign - thanks for the info, Ragnar). Thawte is an authority that issues X.509 certificates to individuals and corporations for personal and corporate use. Thawte offers personal "freemail" certificates that allow individuals to sign their emails and documents with a certificate issued by a verification agency. Thawte's "web of trust" is being promoted to create a "culture of trust" on the Web. Through a network of trusted, certified "Web of Trust" Notaries an individual can become certified enough to have a Personal Certificate that contains their legal name and email address. This Personal Certificate can be used to sign and/or encrypt documents and internet email, even through a Notes client. Using signed emails will help fight against spam and dangerous emails - if we could get to the point where most people have valid X.509 certificates issued by a known trusted authority, we could refuse unsigned emails outright - thereby greatly reducing the threat posed by these insidious emails.
Through the help of Volker Weber I have received enough "trust points" to become an official Thawte Web of Trust Notary. This means that I can give "Trust Points" that indicate that I have verified the credentials (i.e. identification) of a person and can vouch for that fact that this person is whom he (or she) says he is. One you obtain enough Trust Points you can insert your name into your certificate, and can eventually become a Notary yourself. You can read more about obtaining your certificate here (click "join" on the linked page) and how the process works to get enough trust points to insert your name into a certificate. If you're interested in having me award you Trust Points please contact me for more information.
I think that with the amount of spoofed emails being circulated it is time for all of us to take responsibility for our emails, and to begin to require and rely on certificates and signing of documents to ensure a document is sent by the person indicated. Since Thawte has made it easy (and free) to do so, I recommend you register with Thawte and begin looking for Notaries to help assert your identity so that you too can become trusted enough to eventually be a Notary yourself.
Inserting a Thawte x.509 certificate into your browser of choice (hopefully Firefox) is easy, and it is equally easy to insert it into Notes as well. If you have any problems with this, or need help, feel free to ask.
Update: Ragnar Schierholz has written up excellent instructions (at vowe.net) on how to place your public key in a variety of useful places, such as your Notes ID, Personal NAB, and VCF card. Highly recommended.
Let's take the time to create a "web of trust", which will make the Web a safer place for all of us.
Rock
**The only thing shorter than a weekend is a vacation.
Blog Roll
