Understanding Digital Signatures: A Quick Guide to More Secure Transactions

Digital signatures are a powerhouse tool for businesses. They enhance speed, slash costs, boost document accuracy, and elevate security—all while being incredibly user-friendly.

However, grasping how digital signatures function might seem daunting unless you're deeply immersed in the tech world. Distinguishing between electronic signatures and digital signatures can be especially tricky with terms like "public key infrastructure," "digital certificate," and "certification authority" floating around.

Let's simplify it! 

Digital signatures are a secure and legally verifiable type of electronic signature that embeds the legal evidence of a signature directly into a signed PDF. This means users don’t need to rely on a vendor to access the proof of a signature’s legality and validity.

Here’s how it works:

1. Upload and Prepare: A document is uploaded through a browser-based wizard. Signature and text fields are then added to the document for each signer.  These tasks can be automated via the SIGNiX API.
2. Notification: The system sends an email to the signer(s) with a link to review and sign the document.
3. Authentication: Signers verify their identities, which might involve logging into their email, providing answers to security questions, entering a one-time passcode received via text message, entering a passcode sent via SMS, or other high assurance methods including validating identity documents and facial biometrics.

Where the Magic Happens

1. The signer sets a Signing Password and either chooses a signature style, draws their signature using a mouse, or their finger, or uploads their handwritten signature.
2. Behind the scenes, SIGNiX swiftly generates a public/private key pair for the signer, creating a secure digital identity.
3. Upon signing, the document's unique "fingerprint," or hash, is encrypted with the SIGNiX private key. This hash, the signer's digital certificate, a trusted timestamp, and other data, are all permanently embedded into the document.

Seamless Yet Secure

The entire process is lightning-fast and simple for the user, but beneath the surface, it’s fortified with layers of security. The document’s journey—from creation, through sending, signing, and finalizing—is meticulously recorded in an audit trail. You know a digital signature is valid when you spot a green checkmark in the PDF in applications like Acrobat. Any tampering after signing changes this mark to a yellow or red icon, signaling a potential issue.

This easy, secure technology stands as a bulwark against disputes over document authenticity or legal and compliance inquiries, making digital signatures the gold standard for businesses in regulated industries to execute financially or legally important transactions.

Interested in bolstering your digital signature security? Dive deeper by scheduling a personal demo with a SIGNiX expert today.

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