Adobe 22002484 Manual page 22

Acrobat Family of Products
Security Feature User Guide
Users can create a self-signed digital ID if they don't wish to purchase an ID from a 3rd party certificate
authority (CA) or are not given a company-provided ID. Self-signed IDs are usually considered less secure
because the user has not been verified by a 3rd party CA. For self-signed IDs, you act as your own CA.
To create a self-signed digital ID:
1. Navigate to the Add Digital ID dialog as described in
on page
2. Choose A new digital ID I want to create now
3. Choose Next.
4. Select a digital ID format and storage location:
New PKCS#12 Digital ID File: Stores the IDs in a password protected file with a .pfx (Win) or .p12

(Mac) extension. The file is in a PKCS#12 standard format. The files can be copied, moved, and
emailed. They are cross-platform, portable, and always password protected. This common format is
supported by most security software applications, including web browsers. These files should
always be backed up. On Windows XP, the default location is
<username>\Application Data\Adobe\<application name>\<version>\Security\
.
Windows Certificate Store: (Windows only) Stores the ID in the Windows Certificate Store where it

is also available to other Windows applications. The ID is protected by your Windows login. These
IDs are easy to use and do not have to have file-level password protection. However, they are not
portable and could be less secure if a file-level password is not specified.
5. Choose Next.
18.
Figure 12 Digital ID format selection
"Finding an Existing Digital ID in a PKCS#12 File"
(Figure 3).
C:\Documents and Settings\
Getting and Using Your Digital ID
Creating a Self-Signed Digital ID 22