Using ContentAssurity

Securing (protecting & digitally signing) content

Digitally Signing content
You sign content to prove that it came from you and that it has not been altered since you signed it. This is more powerful than a handwritten signature which can be altered.  More than one person can digitally sign content, simply by selecting it in ContentAssurity and clicking on the 'Secure' button with their own signature selected.

Protecting content
You protect content to make sure that only the intended recipient(s) can read it. Content is protected by encryption. This scrambles the content making it impossible to read unless you have secret information that tells you how to unscramble it. That way it doesn’t matter who gets hold of protected content, because they can’t read or use it.  So your content is safe and can’t be seen by anyone else, even the most skilled of hackers.

You can choose whether you want to protect content, sign content, or both by selecting just a protection key, just a signing key, or both types of key. If 'Not Selected' is displayed in either of the boxes then that function is not used.

NOTE: content does not have to be signed in order to be protected and vice versa.

Content may be protected for individuals or multiple recipients.


Securing content

1.  Either type the content straight into the ContentAssurity window or paste it in from another application.

2.  Select the signing and/or protection key from the ‘Sign As’ and ‘Protect For’ drop-down list boxes. If you want to protect content for yourself choose a key that belongs to you. If you want to protect content for other people then choose one of their keys.  If you protect content for others then it is also automatically protected for you.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you want to protect content for other people then they must generate a key on their computer using their copy of ContentAssurity (or ContentAssurity Reader) and send it to you.  You can then import this key into Key Manager so it will become available for selection from the 'Protect For' drop-down list box.  

You cannot generate keys on behalf of others because when you export a key, only the public part of the key (used for encryption and signature verification) is exported.  The private part of the key (used for decryption and signing) never leaves the computer.

3.  Decide whether you want to add the content you are are about to secure to the content archive.  If you want to save this information then enable the 'Content Archive' button on the toolbar.

4.  Press the SECURE button

All of the content displayed in the ContentAssurity window is secured and pasted to the clipboard in its secure format.

5.  Use the 'Paste' function in your e-mail, IM, or other application to paste the secured content from the clipboard.


Protecting content for multiple recipients

You can protect content for multiple recipients by selecting 'multiple recipients' from the 'Protect For' list box. The following dialog is displayed:



Check the boxes for the recipients you want to protect content for and then click on the OK button.

NOTE: Your own key (the first key in the 'My Keys' list) is automatically included if you protect content for other people. You do not have to manually select it from this list.


If you protect content for someone else ContentAssurity will automatically protect it for you as well, ensuring that you always have access to your protected content.  Once content has been protected, ContentAssurity automatically protects any later edits to that content for all the previous recipients without you needing to do anything.  If you just add your signature to protected information it does not remove the protection.  If you protect content for a new recipient at any stage they are added to the list of recipients.