User certificate (S/MIME)

A personal certificate lets you digitally sign and encrypt emails (S/MIME) and authenticate against some HU services with a certificate. The certificate is issued centrally by CMS.

• Email signing: Recipients can verify the message really came from you and was not altered in transit.
• Email encryption: Content readable only by recipients whose public key you hold.
• Authentication to HU services via certificate instead of password (e.g. some internal self-service portals).

1. Generate the certificate in self-service

   Sign in to the CMS self-service portal and request the certificate. You receive an account.p12 file (PKCS#12) to download. Validity: three years.

2. Import into your email client

   Import the .p12 file into Thunderbird, Apple Mail or Outlook – CMS maintains per-client guides.

3. Optional: publish in the HU directory

   So others can send you encrypted email without having to obtain your certificate from you first. No longer automatic – only on request.

Open CMS user-certificate guide