Email Safety: Digital Signatures

A digital signature is a way to verify an email message is truly from the indicated sender and that it hasn't been modified between when the message was sent and when you received it. The digital signature is unique "mark" for the individual. 

This is one measure to help prevent falling for phishing messages (sent by an imposter). View more tips on our Think Before You Click page and on phishing.iu.edu

To get set up with your own digital signature, keep reading.

At IU, the main way to digitally sign email is to use a digital certificate known as an S/MIME (Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) client certificate. Once you get your digital certificate, you can install it on the devices from which you intend to send email (your laptop, mobile device(s), etc.). 

Training and support resources

Looking for help with digital signatures at IU? Find what you need:

Note: Digital certificates cannot be used with web-based mail clients at this time, such as Outlook Web App or Google Mail in a web browser.