How Digital Signature Security Works
In recent years, customers have become accustomed to digital technologies and the convenience, ease, and speed they offer. Businesses have also taken a cue and begun integrating new digital technologies to attract more customers and improve their overall experience. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the digital transformation of enterprises, as homes transitioned into offices overnight. Things were changing, with traditional processes being replaced by digital ones. Organizations were quick to adapt and digitize their paper processes to remain productive.
Digital signature solutions played a significant role in bringing about this change. Extremely useful in completing business transactions and getting signatures faster than ever, organizations and individuals prefer online signatures for user experience, convenience, and speed.
81% of business users consider digital signatures the most essential in their daily legal and security operations.
A Digital Signature Handbook
Digital signatures authenticate the signee’s identity and the message’s integrity. They are more reliable and secure than other forms of electronic signatures. Digital signatures adhere to Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), policies and laws to secure data, and digital certificates. PKI uses public and private keys to authenticate the user’s identity and protect the information from fraud. The signer has access to the private key, while the receiver can access the message through the public key. Both parties require a digital certificate from a certifying authority (CA) to decrypt the information and authenticate each other’s identities.
Digital signatures are increasingly used in agreements to conduct transactions and deals. It minimizes the risk of fraud and protects both parties from document tampering. In business workflows, digital signatures expedite efficiency and improve document management. A real-time trail allows users to witness the status of documents.
Different Classes of Digital Signature Certificates
Digital signature certificates (DSC) are used to establish trust between parties. A third-party provider or CA uses them to verify and authenticate the identity of the parties. There are 3 different classes of DSC with their purpose defined as below:
● Class 1 Certificate — Class 1 certificates are used for private individuals and confirm the name and e-mail address from the CA’s database.
● Class 2 Certificate — Class 2 certificates are issued to business personnel and private individuals. The certificate contains information that aligns with the information on registered databases.
● Class 3 Certificate — Class 3 certificates offer the highest assurance level and are granted to individuals and organizations.
Why Digital Signatures are Vital for Organizations
● Alleviate Cybersecurity Threats — Digital signatures create trust between departments and filter out external and internal threats. Most digital signature solutions have advanced security measures that protect your identity, consent, and documentation from forgery, fraud, and other risks.
● Strengthens Organizational Trust — Digital signatures help companies foster trust and attract the right clientele.
● Facilitates Compliance — Digital signatures help companies comply with the latest e-signature policies and laws and allow data in transit to be secure. They improve security standards by assuring connectivity with legitimate parties.
● Curb Costs — Digital signatures help mitigate unnecessary costs such as security breaches and penalties for non-compliance to e-signature laws.
Also Read: It’s Raining Discounts at DrySign! This Holiday Season, Get 50% off On All DrySign plans!
How Digital Signatures benefit Industries
Industries undergoing digital transformation are focusing on solutions that can improve internal processes. Online signatures help industries in automating workflows and standardize processing between departments. As a result, industries can expedite daily production and help workers collaborate on projects. Some benefits of digital signatures are:
● Customization: Digital signature solutions enable users to create and save templates of frequently used digital documents to reuse in the future. Businesses can create and customize templates based on their line of work and add extra fields for signatures in the document.
● Security: Digital signature solutions offer robust security features, including multi-factor authentication and password-protected documents to verify user identities. This helps eliminate the risk of fraud or forgery, usually prevalent in paper-based documentation and signatures.
● Transparency: Digital signatures offer transparency in signing processes, requiring both parties to verify their identity. Moreover, digital signatures adhere to global laws, driving transparency in online transactions. In addition, digital signatures also offer a real-time trail allowing users to track and monitor modifications or alterations to the document.
● Convenience: Electronic signatures are highly convenient. They offer the ease of signing from anywhere, anytime, from any internet-enabled device, simplifying a plethora of processes, from signing deals to onboarding employees remotely to signing sales contracts or vendor agreements.
common Uses of Digital Signatures
Digital signatures are used to sign and transfer a variety of digital documents to improve their security and efficiency. Some of these uses are:
Government Forms — Government forms adhere to stringent guidelines right from the federal to the local level. Digital signatures can be used to sign approval on timesheets and permits.
Contracts and Legal Documents — Digital signatures are legally valid and have the same legal standing as a wet ink signature. They are used in authenticating the identities of all parties involved in an agreement and providing assurance that documents are not altered.
Financial Documents — Financial documents can ask for digital signatures on invoices and bills to seem authentic to the payer. Digital signatures can be used to distinguish genuine sellers from fraudulent ones.
Sales Agreements — Sales agreements can be digitally signed by authenticating the identities of all parties involved.
Shipping Documents — Digital signatures help streamline documents, keep track of deliveries, and improve customer experience. Businesses in the logistics sector can rely on digital signatures to improve security, visibility, and reliability.
Healthcare Forms — Digital signatures can be accepted on patient consent forms to improve patient experience and protect sensitive data. They reduce overhead expenses while reducing manual work.
Also Read: Digital Signatures: Bolstering the Business Game for Startups
How DrySign Helps
DrySign is an advanced digital signature solution used in major industries for expediting their signature and document workflows. It is used between parties to ascertain each other’s identities and ensures the integrity of electronic documents. The source and owner of the message are protected to prevent fraud, theft, and cyberattacks. Some quick benefits of our solution:
● Enhanced security:
Your Security is our Priority. And like every good business, we know that document security is your priority. Along with multi-factor authentication, SSL Security Certification, Password Protected documents, and a mail trail with time stamps, DrySign ensures that your organization meets the highest standards for data privacy and security.
● Greater flexibility:
Hundreds of teams and thousands of employees work from diverse locations — this may sound tricky to get a job done within the desired timeline and efficiency. However, DrySign makes it possible for work to happen from anywhere — the software works on all devices and operating systems.
● Greater savings:
The bottom line of every growing and successful business is to drive sales, cut down on unnecessary costs, and generate revenue. With DrySign, you can do all this and more. The software helps cut down on printing and other paper-based processes. Moreover, a lot of the hidden costs, such as fuel, storage, stamping, postage, etc., are also reduced as you can store and send critical documents without any of these traditional methods.
● Sustainability:
As seen at the start of the blog, in today’s fast-growing business world, everyone is taking steps toward more sustainable options. DrySign helps contribute toward a sustainable future as it automates your entire document lifecycle end-to-end without printing a single sheet of paper.
● Improved customer experience:
Customers today expect the world, and rightfully so. A highly competitive market has led businesses to find new and innovative ways to improve customer experience and retain clientele. Adopting DrySign in your document workflow processes is so easy because your signatories don’t even need a DrySign account if you have one. Impress your clients and make sure they pick you over the competition.
Conclusion
Digital signatures are highly secure and advocated by various organizations for protecting information within documents. Moreover, individuals, companies, and institutes have recognized the benefits of digital signatures and established certifying authorities for securing data between parties to create trust. Therefore, eSignature providers that offer an interface to digitally sign documents and work with the appropriate CAs for digital certificates should be the norm.
Trust DrySign to sign your documents securely.
DISCLAIMER: The information on this site is for general information purposes only and is not intended to serve as legal advice. Laws governing the subject matter may change quickly, and Exela cannot guarantee that all the information on this site is current or correct. Should you have specific legal questions about any of the information on this site, you should consult with a licensed attorney in your area.
