Digital Signature in Automatic e-mail Processing: a Case Study

Today many services can be requested over the network by sending an electronic form or message to the service provider. If the data is coded in syntax that can be read by computers, it is possible to automate its interpretation, elaboration, and storage, thus speeding up data processing and reducing human error. A digital signature can be associated with Internet messages to guarantee sender authentication, message integrity, and nonrepudiation of origin. The verification process for incoming digitally-signed messages is usually performed by the email client on behalf of the end user. However, if a digital signature is applied to data that is subjected to automatic elaboration in order to maintain the above-mentioned benefits, it may be convenient to automate the verification process as well. Our idea is to implement the verification process in the email server rather than the client. This paper describes our experience in designing and implementing software to automate the verification of digitally-signed messages and web forms in order to simplify the registration of Internet domains under the .IT Top Level Domain.