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Covid 19 pandemic forced many companies across different sectors to digitize their business processes. People started to work from home, firms onboard their customers remotely, and even education was moved into online platforms. The pandemic lost its destructive effect recently, but some changed habits became a part of our lives, permanently.
Remote working and digitalizing the business processes are some of these permanent changes. And the first question about digitalized business is managing signing processes. Using paper and wet signatures makes remote working painful, and firms look for secure and easy solutions. Currently, there are many different digital signature types, and users are confused about which one to use. In this article, we want to clarify the legal meanings of different signature types.
It is not easy to differentiate the signature types for a common user. Electronic signatures, digital signatures, and biometric signatures are commonly misused for each other. They are related but have some distinctive features. Electronic signature (e-sign) involves all of the signature types which are created electronically. In 2000, ESIGN Law, which was declared in the United States, defined the electronic signature as traction on a document that is created, sent, or kept electronically. An electronic signature can be a photo of your hand-drawn signature, a drawing created by a mouse, your email signature, a token-based e-signature, or a drawn on a tablet biometric signature.
eIDAS (electronic identification and trust services) defines the standards for electronic signatures. So the EU member countries could use them securely when conducting business online. The standards for advanced electronic signature were defined under EU Regulation No 910/2014 (eIDAS-regulation). For an electronic signature to be considered advanced, it must meet several requirements:
1. The signatory can be uniquely identified and linked to the signature
2. The signatory must have sole control of the signature creation data (typically a private key) that was used to create the electronic signature
3. The signature must be capable of identifying if its accompanying data has been tampered with after the message was signed.
4. If the accompanying data has been changed, the signature must be invalidated.
Techsign's biometric signature solution complies with SO/IEC 19794, PAdES (PDF Advanced Electronic Signature, ETSI TS 102 778 and EN 319 142-1&2) standards. With these standards, it is defined as an advanced electronic signature. Techsign allows customers to integrate the biometric solution into their system with a couple of simple APIs and offers a white label option. Customers can ask for a forensic tool, anytime they need it for legal action.
