FileAssurity ships with a standard list of Trusted Authorities. These are industry recognized Certification Authorities (CAs) that vouch for the validity of the key a person has used to protect and/or sign files. The CA performs checks on the owner of the key to ensure they are who they say they are.
You can also see this list of Trusted Authorities in your browser, although the way the information is presented to you is rather different. For Internet Explorer, these can be viewed by selecting:
Tools > Internet Options > Content > Certificates.
FileAssurity uses the information in this tab as part of the file validation process. Providing a person is using a key that has been validated by a CA, FileAssurity will transparently verify the files. You do not need to add any keys to your keystore for this to occur.
From this dialog you can add and delete trusted authorities and edit their associated notes. Please also refer to 'Key Manager, General Dialog Usage' for these operations. Information specific to this tab is given below.
Adding Trusted Authorities (CAs)
It is possible that new, publicly recognized authorities will be created, either by private companies or through legislation by national governments, or that current ones issue new keys. If this happens, and you wish to or need to add them as a trusted authority, use the Add New Trusted Authority function in Key Manager.
ArticSoft are not able to make any specific recommendations about how to check that these public key certificates are valid. It may be best to obtain them directly from the authority, or obtain them from a number of sources and compare them. (You can check key certificate information using Key Manager without having to import the key or certificate.)
Deleting Keys
It is unlikely that you will need to delete any of the keys pre-loaded in the keystore when you installed FileAssurity, unless you are notified to do so because they have been compromised and must be deleted. Make certain that any information suggesting deletion is correct before deleting keys - do not believe information coming from a source you cannot verify. You may want to back up your keystore before you delete any keys, just as you would after having added keys. See Keystore Logon & Security.
If a Trusted Authority key has failed simply because it is out of date it is not essential to delete it, and, indeed you may choose to retain it for legal reasons.