Diverse Uses of Electronic Signing

They are to ensure the authenticity of the document to the receiver. Signatures are also used to ensure that the document has not been altered in any way. But with the advent of technology, hand written signatures are not a very authentic mean of ensuring the authenticity of a digital document. For this purpose the concept of online Signing was introduced.

A online Signing, to be more precise, is an electronic signature used to make certain that the content of the message has not been tempered with in transit and the sender of the message is a genuine person, who is also known to the receiver. Even the sender of the message cannot alter the message once it has been sent. It cannot be initiated by another person, are transportable, and can also be time-stamped automatically.

It is based on the concept of public key cryptography. The public key cryptography requires two keys, one that is public and known to all concerned parties and the other one that is secret and is known just to the sender. Both keys are linked together mathematically. One key is used to encrypt the message while the other decrypts the encoded message. Different methodologies are used for this purpose.

Benefits of Electronic Signing

Authentication: At times it is difficult to identify whether the message received is from authentic source or not. But with the usage of Electronic Signing the source can be authenticated. This will ensure the receiver that the message was sent from the intended sender. They are highly used in financial context because of their reliability.

Integrity: It prevents the alteration of message. A regular message is usually in the danger of being altered before reaching its desired destination. To ensure that this does not happen, Signing becomes crucial. The encrypted cipher will not be easily understood and therefore will not be tempered.

Use of Electronic Signing in the Business World

The advancement in technology all over the world has resulted in the termination of excess paper work and has reduced the usage of traditional signatures as well. Most of the contacts and documents are sent over the internet rather than through the post. Hence, the organization opting to go digital also needs protection for their documents.

The contact executed online should be as ironclad as the contract signed in the presence of both the parties. So they opt for electronic version of traditional signatures by using the Electronic Signing methodology. There are plenty of authentic software available in the market that are used by organizations to generate public and private keys and hence encrypt their message.

It is widely used in online financial transactions, e-commerce businesses, banks, hospitals, partial e-commerce businesses and almost by all the organizations conducting their business online.