Firehouse 360

Verify codes, QR codes and checking a signed PDF

When PDF Fire is connected to your department's Firehouse 360, every signature made with a certificate issued by your department gets a verify code (for example PF-7KQ2-M9XD-4TJA) and a QR code printed on the signature. Anyone can check the PDF at firehouse360.com/verify — no account and nothing to install. A personal or self-made certificate signs as before, without a verify code. In PDF Fire's certificate list, department certificates are shown as Dept: name, so they are easy to tell from a personal certificate with the same name.

Connect PDF Fire (once per computer)

  1. In Firehouse 360 open Secure Share › Connect PDF Fire and click Make a connection code. The code works once, for 10 minutes.
  2. In PDF Fire open Sign › Firehouse 360, tick Connect to my department, click Connect… and type the code.
  3. PDF Fire offers to trust your department's authority — check the fingerprint and answer Yes.

Connecting needs Secure Share access. PDF Fire stays fully offline for this until you connect it, and you can disconnect at any time (in PDF Fire, or under Your connected computers in Firehouse 360).

What is sent — and what is not

Only the verification details: the signature itself (who signed, with which certificate, when) and a fingerprint of the signed file. The document is never uploaded. Signing works offline too: the details wait on the computer and are sent the next time it is online.

Checking a signed PDF

  1. Scan the QR code on the signature, or open firehouse360.com/verify/pdf.
  2. Choose or drop the PDF. It is checked in your browser — only fingerprints are compared.

A valid result shows who signed, for which department, when, and whether the certificate was issued by the department and is still valid. No match means the file was changed after signing, or it was not registered. The verify code alone shows only the department and the date — the signer's name is shown only to someone who has the signed file.

Why does another PDF viewer say "certificate issuer isn't trusted"?

Other programs only trust a department authority after it is added to them once. In Adobe Acrobat or Reader: Preferences › Signatures › Identities & Trusted Certificates › Trusted Certificates › Import your department's authority.cer, then Edit Trust › Use this certificate as a trusted root. The online verify page needs nothing.