A digital signature is an electronic certification that represents the act of signing the document using the Perceptive Content interface.
Digital signatures play an important role in moving processing from paper to electronic systems. A digital signature is usually a cryptographic signature. Although you use digital signatures to electronically replace a handwritten signature, they are not images of handwritten signatures. According to the E-SIGN Act of 2000, digital signatures are legally binding as long as they meet the provisions outlined in the laws governing their use.
Digital signatures provide four benefits for documents:
- Authenticity, which provides proof of the identity of the individual who signs a document.
- Data integrity, which ensures that the document has not been altered by a third-party.
- Non-repudiation, which prevents the signer of a document from later denying association with that document.
- Confidentiality, which ensures that data is only readable to the sender and the intended recipient, providing protection from third party snooping.
Digital signature functionality is separately purchased and licensed as part of the Document Control Suite. Digitally signing a document requires that it be checked in to version control. Once signed, the document is made secure from alterations to the signed version. Signing a document entails entering a password, selecting a reason for the signature, and optionally placing one or more visual representations of the signature on the document. Perceptive Content automatically generates a Digital ID for the signing user if none exists. Otherwise, it uses the existing Digital ID to encrypt the digital signature.
After a document has been digitally signed, any user who can access the document can verify the signature. When a document is opened, the signature is automatically authenticated against the stored hash value of the document that was generated at the time of signing. Verifying a digitally signed document recalculates the document hash value and compares it with the signature to get real-time status. If the recalculated hash value matches the signature, the signature is validated; if the hash value does not match the signature (which could indicate tampering with the document outside of Perceptive Content), the signature is marked invalid.
A document can have multiple valid signatures by a signer, and you can place as many visual representations of your signature on the document as you like. However, visual representations are only supported on images on which annotations are supported (TIFF, JPEG, and BMP).