Encrypting PDF documents with certificates

You can use the Encryption service to encrypt PDF documents with certificates. Certificate-based encryption lets you use public-key cryptography to encrypt documents for specific recipients. Public-key cryptography uses two types of keys:

  • A public key, which is stored inside a certificate that can be shared with other users. The public key certificate is in X.509 format and contains a user’s public key and identifying information.

  • A private key, which you do not share with others.

    Documents are encrypted by using the public keys (certificates) of the users who will receive the document. When users receive an encrypted document, they use their private keys to decrypt it.

    Certificates are typically issued and digitally signed by a certificate authority (CA). A CA is a recognized entity that provides a measure of confidence in the validity of the certificate. Certificates have an expiration date, after which they are no longer valid. In addition, certificate revocation lists (CRLs) provide information about certificates that were revoked prior to their expiration date. Certificate authorities publish CRLs periodically. The revocation status of a certificate can also be retrieved through Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) over the network.

    When you use certificates to encrypt a PDF document, you can add permissions that specify tasks that individual users can do with the document. For example, you can specify whether they can sign and fill, edit, or print the PDF document.

    Before you can encrypt a PDF document with a certificate, you must use Administration Console to add the certificate to LiveCycle.

    Note: It is recommended that you do not encrypt a document prior to uploading it to the repository. If you upload an encrypted PDF document to the repository, it cannot decrypt the PDF document and extract the XDP content.

    A password-encrypted PDF document must be unlocked before another LiveCycle operation, such as digitally signing the PDF document, can be performed on it. (See Unlocking encrypted PDF documents.)

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