Support

How to Create Accounts for Client Side Encryption (CSE)

Requirements

  • A registered Confidesk account
  • An Apple Mac or PC with either Windows 7 or later or a supported Linux distribution.
  • Our PC app must be installed on your PC or Mac.
  • An Android device with our app installed on it.

Creating a CSE alias

  • Log in to your Confidesk web account.
  • Open the account menu and choose “CSE aliases.”
  • Click on the plus sign next to the alias title.
  • A field will appear, prompting you to choose an alias name. This name will be your new CSE Confidesk email address (youraliasname@confidesk.com), and this name can be used to log into your alias account.
  • Click “ok.”, Your browser will redirect you to the alias list where you can see your newly created alias.

Please note that an alias can only be used for client side encryption. It is not possible to create an alias for your existing Confidesk account if you don't have your own domain configured at Confidesk.

Activating your CSE alias

Your alias can't be used until you create a key pair or import your key pair into our system.

If you have your own key pair

On the CSE alias screen you will see a column called “public key.” Click on the upload button and upload your key pair's public key here. This step is necessary to associate the key pair with your alias. After the import, when you log in from your devices, the system will automatically know which alias to use with your private key. It will use your public key to encrypt messages other Confidesk users send to you.

If you don't have your own key pair

Our apps are capable of creating you a key pair to use for encryption. You need to log in with your web account to our PC or Android app. If you have an iPhone or iPad, you must continue on your PC or Mac. The program will show you a screen listing all of the aliases that don't have a corresponding public key in our system. Click on the “generate key” button. The program will create you a key pair. It will upload the public key to our servers automatically, and associate it with your account. It will then ask you to save your key pair: a public and a private key. The private key has a '_sec' or '_prvt' addition in its name (accountname_sec.asc or accountname_prvt.asc). This key is needed to log in to your CSE account.
Important: You should always keep your private key in a safe location. You can keep it on a dedicated flash drive, if you'd like.

Logging in to a CSE alias account

f it isn't clear yet, you should know: a CSE alias's data is always decrypted and encrypted locally using our programs and your private key. This means that there is no web access. You must use our PC, Mac, Android or IOS app. However your data is synchronized with our server. It receives only encrypted files. This synchronization helps you to ensure that you are able to access your files and emails on multiple devices.

  • To log in to your alias account, first start our program.
  • Fill in the user name, which is your CSE alias name.
  • Fill in the password, which is the password you used when creating the key.
  • Click on “log in with key”
  • A browsing window will open, allowing you to choose your private key.
  • Once you have selected the key, click “ok”, the system will log you in to your CSE account.
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