Hi Mitch !

 Thank you  for the reply  ! I did not realise such a bridge
existed...

 Would that also solve the problem of locating the (handles to)
private keys that are stored within containers managed by CSPs ? I ask
because it seems to me that under Microsoft´s implementation, the only
way to get access to a "private key context" is through a particular
certificate (which seems strange since a certificate should hold a
*public* key). In other words: by using CAPICOM through a bridge, will
my Java applications be able to request the hashing/signing of a
document from a particular CSP ?

 May I ask you something else ? You said that is my "best bet"...
would there be any alternatives ? Somehow I do not feel safe using a
java - win32 bridge...