End of Life Announcement for Symantec Digital ID for Secure Email

Symantec will be discontinuing the availability of its Digital ID for Secure Email offering. To ease this transition, Symantec is phasing out this offering as follows:

August 22, 2016 – End of Sale: Symantec will stop selling the Digital IDs offering. No new certificates will be issued.

August 23, 2017- End of Life & End of Support: All certificates will expire or are revoked. Symantec Digital IDs for Secure Email support and operations will cease.

Why? For a more secure world of course

The retail versions of the Symantec Digital IDs for Secure Email did not accurately authenticate clients. When the Digital ID certificate would get issued Symantec placed “Persona Not Validated” in the Common Name field of these certificates because Symantec does not verify that the individual registering the email is indeed legally recognized by that name. Because this ID is not validated, to separate these certificates from those that are validated through a notary enrollment process, they are designated as not validated.

Example:

Authentication procedures cannot prove that the retail enrolled person for the digital ID is indeed JON DOE with an email of likescheese@mailcom. Thus why the certificates in the common name would state “Persona Not Validated“

Alternatively, customers can purchase an ENTERPRISE offering (NOT the RETAIL offering) to protect digital communication. These User Authenticated notarized certificates accurately state a users name for which they are issued to because of validated checks that are performed within the enrolled organization.

Digital IDs for Secure Email (Class 1) Support can be found here and any concerns can be address by sending an email to id-queries@symantec.com

What do User Digital IDs Do in General?

Compromised email can mean loss of IP and damage to reputation. A digital ID is like an electronic driver’s license or passport that proves your identity. Digital IDs allow you to digitally sign and encrypt your digital communications using a certificate, bound to your validated email address.

Use Digital IDs to:

Digitally sign email: A red ribbon icon on the email indicates it came from a valid email address.
Encrypt email: A blue envelope icon on the email indicates it remained private during transmission (only the recipient can securely open it).
General signature and encryption: Microsoft Word allows for digital signing of Word documents.
In Enterprise environments it Authenticates digitally the holder of the certificate to be used and gain access to applications or network environments.

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