This guide explains how to generate and verify an RSA digital signature for Cvent HTTP Secure POST.

You need to provide a Base64-encoded RSA digital signature of a SHA-1 hash of a plain text string p, where p is similar to "email=person@example.com;timestamp=01/23/2010 15:34:30;".

You need to create a digital signature that meets these criteria in your system.

Below you’ll find an example of creating this signature in C#:

using System;
using System.Security.Cryptography;
using System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates;

namespace myNamespace
{
    class myClass
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Plaintext to sign
            string email = "person@example.com";
            string timestamp = System.DateTime.Now.ToUniversalTime().ToString("MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss");
            string plaintext = "email=" + email + ";timestamp=" + timestamp + ";";

            // String that will contain RSA digital signature
            string RSADigitalSignature = "";

            RSACryptoServiceProvider rsa = new RSACryptoServiceProvider();

            try
            {
                // Get private key certificate
                string privateKeyFilePath = "path to private key.pfx file, e.g., /privateKey.pfx";
                byte[] privateKeyFileBytes = System.IO.File.ReadAllBytes(privateKeyFilePath);
                string privateKeyFilePassword = "password you created for private key.pfx file";

                X509Certificate2 privateKeyCert = new X509Certificate2(privateKeyFileBytes, privateKeyFilePassword);

                // Create RSA digital signature from private key, and encode in Base64
                rsa = (RSACryptoServiceProvider)privateKeyCert.PrivateKey;
                byte[] plaintextBytes = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(plaintext);
                byte[] hashOfPlaintextBytes = (new SHA1Managed()).ComputeHash(plaintextBytes);
                byte[] digitalSignatureBytes = rsa.SignHash(hashOfPlaintextBytes, "SHA1");
                RSADigitalSignature = Convert.ToBase64String(digitalSignatureBytes);
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
            }
            finally
            {
                rsa.PersistKeyInCsp = false;
            }
        }
    }
}

Set the Signature field of the HTTP POST form to RSADigitalSignature in the reg_signature form field. This string typically contains a few hundred characters.

Note

It’s your responsibility to handle any exceptions raised during this process.

When Cvent receives a post from an account configured with HTTP Secure POST, it performs a similar process:

using System;
using System.Security.Cryptography;
using System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates;

namespace myNamespace
{
 class myClass
 {
 static void Main(string[] args)
 {
 // Plaintext to sign
 string email = "person@example.com";
 string timestamp = System.DateTime.Now.ToUniversalTime().ToString("MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss");
 string plaintext = "email=" + email + ";timestamp=" + timestamp + ";";

            // String that will contain RSA digital signature
            string RSADigitalSignature = "";

            RSACryptoServiceProvider rsa = new RSACryptoServiceProvider();

            try
            {
                // Get private key certificate
                string privateKeyFilePath = "path to private key.pfx file, e.g., /privateKey.pfx";
                byte[] privateKeyFileBytes = System.IO.File.ReadAllBytes(privateKeyFilePath);
                string privateKeyFilePassword = "password you created for private key.pfx file";

                X509Certificate2 privateKeyCert = new X509Certificate2(privateKeyFileBytes, privateKeyFilePassword);

                // Create RSA digital signature from private key, and encode in Base64
                rsa = (RSACryptoServiceProvider)privateKeyCert.PrivateKey;
                byte[] plaintextBytes = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(plaintext);
                byte[] hashOfPlaintextBytes = (new SHA1Managed()).ComputeHash(plaintextBytes);
                byte[] digitalSignatureBytes = rsa.SignHash(hashOfPlaintextBytes, "SHA1");
                RSADigitalSignature = Convert.ToBase64String(digitalSignatureBytes);
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
            }
            finally
            {
                rsa.PersistKeyInCsp = false;
            }
        }
    }
}

By following these steps, you can generate and verify an RSA digital signature for Cvent HTTP Secure POST.

Next Steps

Read Generating Private Key & Public Key Pair.

Last updated on February 12, 2025

Overview Generating Private Key & Public Key Pair