Automation Execution Generates Error “Your Digital ID name cannot be found by the underlying security system.”

While running an automation , how to resolve the error - “Your Digital ID name cannot be found by the underlying security system.” ?

Issue Overview: While running an automation the following error is encountered: “Your Digital ID name cannot be found by the underlying security system.”


Root Cause: This error occurs when trying to read an encrypted email for which the user account does not have a certificate for or for which a certificate cannot be used to decrypt the message.

When using the Get Outlook Mail Messages activity and this error is encountered, it most likely means that there is a particular email causing the problem. Usually when trying to open the problematic email, the user will be prompted to enter a pin or password before they can open the email.


Diagnosing Steps / Resolution:

  1. Try finding the specific mail message that cause the issue.
  2. A pin or password is needed to open the email address. Certificates used for reading encrypted emails can have security settings enabled that force a user to enter a password. These settings get configured when the certificate is installed.
  3. The certificate needed to for opening the email can be found by typing “Manage user certificates” in the windows start menu. It should be under “Personal”.
  4. If the specific email needs a pin or password in order to open it, try re-importing the certificate and changing the security settings. See image below for the settings that affect this behavior.

  1. Check the following group policy as it could also be the cause of this issue
  • Computer Confiugration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options-> System cryptography: Force strong key protection for keys stored on the computer
  • This needs to be undefined or set to “User input is not required when new keys are stored and used”