Importing a personal key

  • When your personal key has been revoked or is no longer valid. Your key management infrastructure administrator will provide you with a new personal key in the form of a .p12 or .pfx file that you will need to import into your SDS for C&M account.

To import a personal key

  1. On Windows, right-click on macOS SDS icon in the notification area in the taskbar and select the Settings menu.

    - or -

    On macOS, click on Windows SDS icon in the menu bar, then click on the gear wheel to choose the Settings menu.

  1. In the My keys area of the Account tab, click on Import. The Import key window appears.
  2. In the Key field, click on Browse in order to select the personal key container in .p12 or .pfx format.
  3. In the Password field, enter the password for the personal key.

  4. The validity of your key will be verified:

    • If the key is valid, you will be allowed to import it,
    • If the certificate contains an error, you will not be allowed to import it.
    • If the certificate contains a warning (revocation list not available, no trust chain, certificate revoked or expired, etc), you need to confirm the import in order to proceed.

The newly imported personal key replaces the current personal key if SDS for C&M considers it more secure. This will then be the key used from now on to protect files.

You will still be able to read and modify older protected files.

If a key has validity issues, refer to the section The application indicates issues with keys.