Digital signatures have grown in popularity in the business and other worlds. They are granted the equivalent of handwritten signatures in the U.S. and other countries or regions. This article is compiled to help you figure out what a digital signature is, how it works, and how to create one without trouble in frank words.
What Is a Digital Signature?
A digital signature is a highly secure signature encrypted by Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and certified with Certificate Authority (CA). It is a special kind of electronic signature that contains the unique identification of the signer and the time it was created. The purpose of the signature is to validate tampering or forgery when you want to get approval on digital documents.
A certified digital signature in a document enables the recipient to authenticate the signer's identity and document's integrity. It is widely preferred by financial, contract management, and other industries.
Digital signatures provide authentication of the original signer, a method to verify the document's integrity and non-repudiation.
Here is a digital signature example for you to see what it looks like:
How Does Digital Signatures Work?
To better understand digital signatures, getting how they work is necessary.
Digital signature solution providers, generators, and creators like SwifDoo PDF can generate public and private keys using a mathematical algorithm. When you digitally sign a document, the specific data matching the signed document, called cryptographic hash, is generated and encrypted by the private key. The digital signature is the encrypted data.
When you send the document with the digital signature, the public key is also sent. The recipient will use the public key to decrypt the signature and validate whether the cryptographic hash is matched. Thus, the recipient can know if the document has been tampered with or is valid. You can validate the signer's identification by checking whether the signature can be decrypted with the public key. Any change will make the signature invalid.
CA will issue an electronic document as a digital signature certificate that is valid for a limited time. Users can select the certificate to create a signature.
Digital Signature VS Electronic Signature
Since a digital signature is also an electronic signature, what's the difference between them? Digital signature software and makers can also be e-signature creators. They both let you sign documents without paper.
E-signatures use basic authentication methods and don't have an encryption process. Digital signatures are encrypted with a private key and must be authenticated by certificate-based IDs.
An electronic signature is usually just a form of approval, indicating that the signer agrees to the terms in a particular document. However, a digital signature ensures the document is not altered by others and signed legitimately, requiring stricter verification. People can sign a PDF file with both digital signatures and e-signatures.
How to Create a Digital Signature in PDF
Most confidential documents are saved and sent in PDF format, so you may often need to add digital signatures to PDFs. As a result, your transactions and business will enjoy a higher level of identity assurance. Using the SwifDoo PDF digital signature provider and app, you can create a signature using an existing digital ID from a file or by generating a new ID. The app also lets you electronically sign a PDF.
A brief step-by-step process for digitally signing a PDF:
Open your PDF with the software;
Go to Protect > Digital Signature;
Click on the PDF, select an ID, or create a New ID;
Click Sign.
