Digitally-Signed Documents
The M&P Lab uses digital signatures to provide a high level of security for distribution of electronic documents, both internally and for certain client communications, including final reports. Digital signatures provide a verifiable means to ensure the integrity of the document. The application of digital signatures by employees of The M&P Lab is controlled under a QA procedure.
Digital Certificates
The digital certificate that accompanies each signature is issued from The M&P Lab’s “Root Certificate Authority” (Root CA) on our server. In order to validate signatures on a document issued by The M&P Lab, you will need to install our Root Certificate in the certificate directory on your computer. By doing so, you will “trust” The M&P Lab Root CA, and therefore be able to validate signatures on documents issued by us.
To install The M&P Lab’s Root Certificate, follow the instructions below.
Download The M&P Lab Root Certificate
Installation Instructions:
- Download the certificate by clicking on the link above
- Double click the file “the_mandplab_root_certificate.zip” and select Extract All…
- Select a location for the extracted files (i.e. Desktop) and click Extract
- Using My Computer, navigate to where the file was extracted to in step 2
- Double click the file “The M&P Lab Root Certificate.cer”
- Click the Install Certificate … button
- Click Next >
- Click the Place All Certificates in the Following Store radio button and click Browse
- Select Trusted Root Certification Authorities from the list and click OK
- Click Next >
- Click Finish
- Click OK when prompted that the import was successful
- Click OK to close the certificate file
Validating Signatures on Digitally-Signed Documents
Once the M&P Lab’s Root Certificate has been installed on your PC, the signatures on a digitally-signed document from the M&P Lab may be verified. Click on the following link for instructions on how to validate signatures in Adobe Acrobat 6 and 8, and MS Word, and follow the instructions depending on the type of document you wish to verify.
Client Instructions for Word, Adobe 6 & 8
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