A system and method are disclosed for facilitating access to a plurality
of certificate-related and other services including certificate
validation. A seller is provided with digital signature messaging
software for accessing these services. Two preferred implementations are
disclosed for integrating a seller's existing Web server and applications
with this software. The first preferred implementation is referred to as
"passive integration" because it requires little or no modification to a
seller's existing e-commerce Web application. In this first
implementation, the seller's Web site is preferably provided with five
additional components: a Web filter for redirecting HTTP requests, a
second Web server for parsing the redirected HTTP requests, a servlet
that runs applications based on the requested URL, a filter engine that
identifies pages from a buyer that require the buyer's signature as well
as pages that require access to system services, and a bank interface
that receives requests to access system services from the filter engine,
and processes those requests. The second preferred implementation is
referred to as "active integration" because it requires the seller to
rewrite code of its Web applications to provide the functionality
necessary to access system services. In active integration, the seller's
Web site is preferably provided with the bank interface described above
but the functionality provided by the other digital signature messaging
software components is instead provided by modifying directly the
seller's Web application.