Adobe Acrobat XI - Manual (Page 390)

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Security
Last updated 1/14/2015
After Lets you specify an interval.
Once Per Session Prompts you once each time you open Acrobat.
Never You’re never prompted for a password.
6 Type the password, and click OK.
Be sure to back up your password in a secure place. If you lose your password, either create a new self-signed digital ID
and delete the old one, or purchase one from a third-party provider.
Delete your digital ID
When you delete a digital ID in Acrobat, you delete the actual PKCS #12 file that contains both the private key and the
certificate. Before you delete your digital ID, ensure that it isn’t in use by other programs or required by any documents
for decrypting.
Note: You can delete only self-signed digital IDs that you created in Acrobat. A digital ID obtained from another provider
cannot be deleted.
1 Select Preferences > Signatures. In Identities & Trusted Certificates, and click More.
2 Select Digital IDs on the left, and then select the digital ID to remove.
3 Click Remove ID, and then click OK.
Protecting digital IDs
By protecting your digital IDs, you can prevent unauthorized use of your private keys for signing or decrypting
confidential documents. Ensure that you have a procedure in place in the event your digital ID is lost or stolen.
How to protect your digital IDs
When private keys are stored on hardware tokens, smart cards, and other hardware devices that are password- or PIN-
protected, use a strong password or PIN. Never divulge your password to others. If you must write down your password,
store it in a secure location. Contact your system administrator for guidelines on choosing a strong password. Keep
your password strong by following these rules:
• Use eight or more characters.
• Mix uppercase and lowercase letters with numbers and special characters.
• Choose a password that is difficult to guess or hack, but that you can remember without having to write it down.
• Do not use a correctly spelled word in any language, as they are subject to “dictionary attacks” that can crack these
passwords in minutes.
• Change your password on a regular basis.
• Contact your system administrator for guidelines on choosing a strong password.
To protect private keys stored in P12/PFX files, use a strong password and set your password timeout options
appropriately. If using a P12 file to store private keys that you use for signing, use the default setting for password
timeout option. This setting ensures that your password is always required. If using your P12 file to store private keys
that are used to decrypt documents, make a backup copy of your private key or P12 file. You can use the backed up
private key of P12 file to open encrypted documents if you lose your keys.