I have my brother’s information on a certificate that is on my login keychain. I am just wondering why his certificate would be on my login (he is a government contractor with a security clearance. The DOD also has their certificate on my login)? I am just wondering what the purpose of a certificate is and why I have these two on my login when the rest of the certificates are under system or system root not my login. I did not put any certificates on my computer so I am assuming they load automatically when he sent me an email? Just trying to figure this Apple thing out since I have been an HP person-finally got tired of all the viruses and problems so I got this handy dandy MacBook Pro.
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Cynthia
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Why do I have a certificate on my login keychain
Comments: 2 Responses to “Why do I have a certificate on my login keychain”
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Yes, I would imagine you got that when he sent you an email that used that certificate.
That's not really an Apple thing. I'd imagine you'd have that on Windows too, but I'm not sure how Windows stores certificates.
I'm not really all that knowledgable about certificates. Maybe someone else can chime in on why someone else's certificate gets stored in the Keychain like that.
It just means his email has been digitally signed with a S/MIME certificate which allows you to verify origin, identity and that it has not been tampered with along the way. It's like a digital signature. You will have his personal certificate and the the CA (certificate authority) certificate which I assume in this case is DOD. It's neither an Apple nor a Windows thing especially, it's a standard. Hope this helps.