After the world began its active transition to a digitalized space, it no longer surprises us how many things can now be done online. This applies to our everyday life and work; for example, you can now sign documents from anywhere with a stable internet connection without the presence of another party. A digital signature is the equivalent of a physical signature with a pen, but its level of security is much higher. Below you will learn exactly how a digital signature keeps your document security.
How do digital signatures work?
Digital signatures are a math-based method that relies on public key cryptography. Using this algorithm, two keys are generated, one public and one private. Digital signatures work through two public cryptographic keys that are mutually authenticated. When a person digitally signs a document, he uses the private key to encrypt and decrypt the data; he must use the signer’s public key.
If the recipient can’t do that, there’s something wrong with the signature or the document. One of the common cases is that the document was changed after signing, which means that the signature is no longer valid.
The most important thing for both parties to a contract to remember is that the person who signed the document must keep the private key confidential. If someone else can use the private key, it puts you at great risk because they can use the other person’s signature for fraudulent purposes, such as signing other documents on their behalf.
How digital signatures protect documents: the main advantages
Digital signatures were created primarily to increase the security of the document being signed. So, copies signed with a digital signature are protected from copying and editing and becoming legally binding. To do this, digital signatures use the following security methods:
- PINs, passwords, and codes-personal identification numbers are used to verify the identity of the person signing the document and to validate their signature
- Asymmetric cryptography -includes private and public key encryption and authentication
- Control sum – is a data fingerprint and is a long string of letters and numbers. In the digital data part, it is the sum of the correct digits, which helps you make comparisons and quickly detect errors or changes
- Cyclic redundancy check – used in numerical grids and storage units to identify variations in raw data
- Certificate Center Verification – Certification authorities are trusted third parties that issue digital signatures. They maintain and issue digital certificates, avoiding the creation of false digital certificates
- TSP is a verification trust service provider, i.e., a legal or natural person who verifies digital signatures on behalf of the company and provides a report on the verification of the signature
Many entrepreneurs may doubt that digital signatures are legitimate, so they prefer to act the old-fashioned way. However, PKI is an internationally accepted public key infrastructure standard, and its use is completely legal, and documents signed with digital signatures have full legal effect. One of the most convenient ways to use digital signatures is to use them in the Datarooms.fr virtual data room space, as this space provides convenient ways to store and exchange documents, as well as flexible data management and additional data protection. In addition to the built-in digital signature, VDRs use data encryption and dual authentication, watermarks, NDAs, explicit permissions, and more to keep your documents safe from unauthorized copying and changes.