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Setting up an eIDAS certificate in your IONOS account

With eIDAS-compliant certificates from IONOS, you can sign and seal digital documents, and thus prove their authenticity and integrity in a legally secure manner.

In this article, you will learn how to set up an eIDAS certificate purchased from IONOS in your IONOS account. After successful setup, you will have access to your personal eIDAS certificate, and can use it to digitally sign your documents.

Requirement

  • Your contract contains an eIDAS certificate purchased from IONOS that has not yet been set up

Set up eIDAS certificate

  • Log in to your IONOS account.
  • Click MENU > Domains & SSL in the title bar.
  • Navigate to the Portfolio tile to the right of the domain overview, and click on the Manage link in the eIDAS area.
  • Click on Set Up Certificate. You will be redirected to the setup wizard.
  • In the tile representing the type of certificate you have purchased, click Activate Now.
  • Enter your contact details in the form.
  • Optional (for advanced users): If you want to provide your own Certificate Signing Request (CSR), tick the I will provide my own CSR option.
  • Confirm the terms of use by ticking the corresponding checkbox.
  • Click on Set Up Certificate. The "Download private key" dialogue window opens.
  • Click on Download Private Key and save the key file on your computer.

Please Note

Keep the private key safe, as you cannot use the eIDAS certificate without it. For security reasons, the private key is neither stored by IONOS nor by the certification authority (Sectigo). It can therefore not be requested again. In the event of loss, a new certificate must be set up.

We will now forward your data to our eIDAS trusted service provider, Sectigo. Sectigo will contact you by email to carry out the necessary validation steps for identity validation.

After successful validation, you will receive the eIDAS certificate that you need to digitally sign your documents. How to use the certificate on Windows to sign documents is described in the following article: Digitally signing documents with an eIDAS certificate on Windows

Further information on the validation process can be found in the following sections.

Validation steps for eIDAS certificates

The validation process for eIDAS certificates from Sectigo is a multi-stage procedure that ensures that the identity of the person (natural person) or organisation (legal entity) for which the certificate is issued is verified. The validation process comprises the following individual procedures:

  • Subscriber Agreement Execution (Agreement Execution): You must agree to the Subscriber Agreement, which will be sent to you by email.
  • Email Verification: You will receive an email to confirm the email address used for the order.
  • Face to Face Verification: You must prove your identity online using video identification (Video ID). This requires the completion of a form provided by Sectigo and the upload of an official photo ID.
  • Verification of the signatory (Signer Verification): When ordering on behalf of an organisation, proof that the signer of the agreement is an authorised representative of the organisation is required. This often involves a call back to a verified telephone number of the organisation.
  • Validation of the organisation (Organisation Validation): For certificates for legal entities, Sectigo verifies the physical, legal, and operational existence of the organisation.

Validation steps according to certificate type

For natural persons (citizens and employees)
  • Citizen Advanced eSignature (Digital SCD): Requires execution of Subscriber Agreement, email verification, and personal verification (face to face).
  • Employee Advanced eSignature (Digital): Requires signer verification and organisation validation, in addition to the steps for the Citizen Advanced eSignature.
For legal entities (organisations):
  • Advanced eSeal for Organisations (Digital): Requires execution of Subscriber Agreement, email verification, face to face verification, Signer Verification, and Organisation Validation. For PSD2-compliant certificates, registration with the national competent authority (NCA) is also checked.

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