‍Introduction: What is a Digital Signature and Why is it Beneficial?

Simply put, a Digital Signature is your very own unique digital fingerprint, which allows you to transport the validity and authority of your ink-based signature into the digital world. The benefits of such technology don’t require much imagination as the costs of ink, paper, printing, scanning, couriering, and/or shipping will be dramatically reduced. On top of that, the value of your employee’s time and labor could be saved by being able to send fully authorized and signed documents digitally rather than having to file the hard copies.

Why Should I Care about Digital Signatures?

The world is clearly becoming more and more digital with each year that passes. Digital Signatures are one of the final advances in technology to be incorporated into the business sector which means being a frontrunner could be a sure way to get your company noticed. With major industries such as Healthcare, Manufacturing, and even Governments, which includes the U.S Government, the imminent adoption of the Digital Signature into our daily lives can’t be denied.

Different Ways to Create an Electronic Signature for Various Purposes

Digital signature is a process by which a digital document is signed to make it authentic. This process can be used for different purposes like authenticating, integrity, non-repudiation, and data origin authentication.

There are three ways in which digital signature can be used:

1. Authenticating the identity of the sender of the message.

2. Ensuring that the content of the message has not been altered after it was sent.

3. Proving that person has approved the content of the message before sending it to other people or parties involved in a transaction or contract negotiation

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There are different types of signatures based on their level of authenticity. We talked about this in this article. You can check it out. 

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In Inspakt, Digital Signatures come at different levels of security based on your needs, starting with the classic Digital Signature which we have all encountered at one point or another, which we will call Basic Signature.

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Basic Signature is a Digital Signature at its most basic roots. Most, if not all, document writing programs have some form of rudimentary Digital Signature, where the user is asked to either scan a paper and ink form of your signature, or shakely write it onto the document with a mouse or touch screen. This type of Digital Signature is highly disadvantageous, not only is it susceptible to forgery, but it’s also not encrypted, meaning the document could be altered without the consent of the original signer. We see this as an insecure form of Digital Signature and not an accurate representation of today’s technology.

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Next is what we would call the of Digital Signatures. Digital Biometric Signature helps solve a lot of the issues which Basic Digital Signature struggles with. Now, Digital Biometric Signature’s progression in technology could ensure that documents which had previously been signed hadn't been tampered with. The issues that still existed with Digital Biometric Signature are the ones surrounding the identity verification of the signer and as a result these documents could not hold legal power.

Digital Biometric Signature

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Digital Biometric Signatures are composed of horizontal, vertical, and curving strokes. Velocity, acceleration, timing, pressure, and strokes are the primary data recorded and kept along with the PDF when signed using a digital biometric signature. It also includes text with various languages. Its purpose is to identify a person's name and last name as well as their agreement or presence on the document. Velocity and acceleration mean that the behavioral data of how fast you use the stylus and where it changes while signing is recorded. Timing is the data saved that how much time it takes you to finish your signatures. The pressure and strokes you put on a signature show how much force you're applying overall and precisely where. 

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Inspakt’s Digital Biometric Signature is based on behavioral biometrics for recognition and stores signatures. Consequently a biometric signature measures an individual's identity uniquely. 

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Combined with a timestamp, these tools lead to legally binding documents for many cases. Many organizations are using digital tracking tools to track the development of their property or investments through time. The process benefits from the presence of a timestamp and from being digitized so that it's not just written down on paper.

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