Shawnee County District Court has made additions to its computer systems to support secure access to its web site and e-mail filing system. This effort was undertaken in response to Kansas Supreme Court Rule requiring the use of digital signatures for certain types of electronic exchange with the Court.
Digital signatures are essentially an electronic identification card. They associate your name with your e-mail address and provide security-aware web browsers (such as modern versions of Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer) a means to send and receive information in encrypted format over the Internet. Simply stated, exchanges of information between your computer and the Court's web site and e-mail system are encrypted as they pass over the public Internet. The public key infrastructure (PKI) technology selected by the Court provides a highly secure means of data exchange. An introduction to this technology, is available from Netscape.
1. In order to request and use digital certificates, electronic filers must first register their intentions with the Court. Instructions about this process and a sample registration letter are available elsewhere on this site.
2. A "modern" web browser and e-mail software. Releases of Netscape Communicator (which includes the Messenger e-mail software) after version 4.5 are most suitable for secure exchange with the Court. Releases of Microsoft Internet Explorer after version 5.1 are also suitable for secure exchange with the Court. Electronic mail software used to send secure e-mail to the Court must support the Transport Level Security (TLSv1) protocol.
3. A digital certificate. Digital certificates are issued by Certificate Authorities (CA's), usually for a fee. Two well known CA's are Verisign and Thawte. Certificates from both organizations are acceptable to the Court, however, Thawte's "Freemail" certificate, which is issued without charge, may not be used for secure web site access, since it contains only the holder's e-mail address, not their name.
When requesting a certificate, be sure the name you enter on your certificate request exactly matches the name you used to register your intention to file with the Court, including capitalization, middle initials, etc.
4. Install your certificate into your browser and e-mail software using the directions provided by your CA. Instructions for installing your digital certificate in a Netscape browser are available elsewhere on this site.
5. Finally, register your certificate with the Court.
Yes, certificates issued by a commercial certificate authority are usable anywhere a digital signature is required.