Security of the submitted PDF forms (mailto: function)

[eugenen26498105]

Hello everyone!

Following a successful conversion of a file i was using for my customers orders (adding a print button and a script that is checking mandatory fields completeness - try67​ thanks once again), i decided to place the pdf form on the website and use a submit button instead of print.

I want to ask the community about an security issue. If i will use mailto: function, could you please explain how it actually works? specifically - who is the sender? is the personal data of my Clients protected? Is this information being saved on any server? what channel is used for mailing?

Also, is there any way to crypt the pdf file which will be sent to the email?

Many thanks in advance!

P.S. In my country, data protection rules are quite strict and i have to look for any possible ways to protect this digital relationship between me and the Client. Another way could be to create a web form and than export the data and populate fields in the pdf form (not to input data once again when Client visits for pick-up), but this is a more difficult way

[try67 · Accepted solution]

All the mailto command does is generate a new email on the computer, using the default email client. Nothing more or less.

The security of emails is questionable, in general, and the information is most likely saved on the email servers used to transfer the file.

If you can't send this information by email then don't use this method. You can transfer the data to a web-service, instead, which can be hosted on a secure server (HTTPS). That is more complicated to set up, but it is also more secure.

[eugenen26498105]

Hi! Thank you for your attention to this topic.

Hm, you mean option 2 of what i wrote above?

Or you mean that the submit button will initiate a http post/get request that will transfer the data from pdf to a web service?

Sorry in the question is stupid, i am a newbie on this topic. 

[try67]

Yes, the latter.

On Thu, Jun 22, 2017 at 3:00 PM, eugenen26498105 <forums_noreply@adobe.com>

[eugenen26498105]

Do you know where i can find more information about how this works? Thank you!

I will still later need to put this information back into the PDF file in order to print it and ask the Client to put his signature on the printed version of the form..so i will need to populate the form once again

[try67]

I sent you a PM regarding it.

And yes, the data can be imported later on to a blank copy of the PDF on your end. It's also possible to submit the complete PDF file, not just the form data...