User certificates are a kind of identity card. With their help, you can ensure that the data

• originates from exactly the person requested (authenticity),
• has not been tampered with during transmission (integrity) and
• cannot be read by unauthorized persons (confidentiality).

This procedure is required, for example, to establish trustworthy e-mail communication.

The whole thing works with a matching key pair. Everything that has been encrypted with one key can only be decrypted with the other key and vice versa.

One key is kept for yourself and is not passed on to anyone (private key), the other is made publicly accessible (public key). To ensure that the public key really belongs to the specified person, it must be authenticated like an identity card. This task is performed by the certification authority (CA). The HRZ operates its own certification authority (CA) at the DFN Verein, which is called "HS Emden/Leer CA".

To apply for a user certificate, please send an e-mail to cert(at)hs-emden-leer.de. We will then contact you for the next steps.