xorkeesign for Outlook

The xorkeesign for Outlook add-in is a specialized interface to Microsoft Outlook for authenticating the mails the users send and also to verify the authenticity of the mails received from others.

xorkeesign is a digital signature enabling service from Odyssey Technologies Ltd. xorkeesign runs on the xorkee infrastructure that is a superset of PKI. The xorkee app allows the user to create, manage and sign using an asymmetric cryptographic key pair in a cryptographic token or mobile.

This add-in allows the user to bind the public key of the key pair with his mail id through xorkeesign. When the user chooses to sign, his signatures are added as an additional attachment to the mail in the standard PKI - CMS format (RFC #5652).

When such a signed mail is received the add-in helps the user to verify the senders' signatures. It displays the result of such verification within the mail client. It offers the user the certainty that the mail is genuinely from the claimed sender. This goes a long way in preventing users from clicking unsafe links and attachments and significantly reduce the efficacy of phishing and ransomware.

When a signed mail is received in a mail client without this add-in, the users can continue to read the mail as if it is not signed. His usual mailing experience is not impacted in any way. The add-in also allows the recipient of a email to archive the mail body or one or more of the attachments as signed documents in CMS format. This will help in creating permanent authenticated business communication records.

The add-in does not collect or store any other data than described above.

GET STARTED

Click 'Get it Now' (above) and follow the prompts.

Install the xorkee app (https://www.odysseytec.com/downloads) in your mobile and get a xorkee handle for a key in a cryptographic token or the mobile phone. You can also use the xorkee app in a desktop computer to get a xorkee handle for a qualified digital certificate in a cryptographic token. Users who already have a xorkee handle can skip this step.

Add the xorkee handle in the add-in configuration page to bind the asymmetric cryptographic key in xorkee app with the email id. This binding will be instantaneous if the handle is associated with a qualified digital certificate in xorkee. Otherwise, the key should be attested by the user's organization admin through the 'IDzone' facility in xorkeesign.

Clicking the 'Sign' button in the compose/reply interface will cause the add-in to send a signature request by way of a notification through xorkeesign to the user's xorkee app. On user's approval, signatures will be added as an attachment. Click 'Send' to send the signed email.

ABOUT XORKEESIGN FOR OUTLOOK ADD-IN

The add-in presents two items to the user after installation, namely 'Sign' and 'Configuration'.

The user should configure his xorkee handle to start signing mails. Until then clicking the 'Sign' button will also bring up the configuration interface. This configuration happens automatically if the user is a member of his organization's 'IDzone' in xorkeesign. Once done, the configuration interface will display the handle. The add-in allows the user to change the handle later.

The 'Sign' button will be displayed to the user while composing a new mail, replying to a mail or forwarding a mail. The user's signature will be added as an attachment named 'Signatures.pdf'. The add-in also appends a text indicator to the mail body that it is a signed mail, to assist the recipients without the add-in to verify the signatures.

Any changes to the mail after signing invalidate the signatures. The add-in watches for such changes (body or attachments or recipients) and removes the signatures. User will be presented with an option to allow the mail as it is or sign it again.

The recipient can use the add-in to verify the signatures in the mail by clicking on the xorkeesign icon in the mail view/read interface.