Digital Signature PDF

What is a Digital Signature?

A digital signature is a form of coded message that designates a signer. It has the same function as digital fingerprints. This is an electronic form of the signature of a person. It is used to secure any recorded transaction. It is a sample text or a digital copy of a handwritten signature. Today, digital signatures are widely accepted. It has the format known as the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). It provides good security for every transaction. Digital signatures are a subset of eSignature or electronic signature technology.

Digital signatures have the authenticity of digital documents. It serves as a virtual fingerprint that identifies signers. Data are secured with the use of digital signatures. Compliance with regulations is provided. It gives the proof of origin and status of a digital document. It is one of the things that you have to consider when making a document checklist. You have to ensure that you can provide a good signature for all the digital documents. Messages have integrity because of digital signatures. A digital document is legally valid if it has digital signatures.

Benefits of a Digital Signature

Today that digital signatures are broadly used, it is time for you to know some things about them. Why have companies chosen to use digital signatures? Do they give a lot of convenience to the users? What are the benefits that we can gain from digital signatures? Below, you will find the main benefits of digital signatures and you will know why businesses have started using them.

Higher Security: Because digital signatures are from PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) technology, you can have encryption that will make your digital signatures never be removed from your documents. Through digital signatures, national electronic IDs can be associated and it provides legal proof identity of the signer. You can access public and private services online with higher security. It can give a trustworthy way of identification. There is no need for a security incident report. An assurance that your information and document are secured. With digital signatures, the time and IP are recorded which means that you can use this anytime as legal proof in court.Wide Acceptance: Digital signatures are widely accepted anywhere in the world. There are things that we cannot accomplish personally. Especially in this fast-moving age where people make transactions through electronic means only. Stores and businesses accomplish documents online. The answer to these kinds of transactions is using digital signatures. Through this, we can make transactions even with people abroad. It can be easier to have jobs abroad by working remotely and signing an employment contract with a digital signature. We can work remotely for a company in a faraway city without having any problems. Many things can be possible. We can buy various services abroad and sign sales agreements just with digital signatures. Everything can be accessible to us. We can enter any business from a faraway land with ease and convenience. There is no need to be in person to sign documents. All you need is your computer and the internet, you can make seamless transactions anywhere.Legal Compliance: Digital signatures are enforced in every developed country. You can be sure that you can comply with the law of a state with digital signatures. Aside from the fact that you can now make transactions to a remote place, you should know that digital signatures have somehow taken the place of handwritten signatures. Of course, handwritten signatures are still most valid but you cannot use them in digital documents. If you need legal compliance in a remote state, your choice is to use digital signatures. It will be easy for you to make sales agreements and any other kinds of contracts. With complete convenience, you can be sure of legal compliance anywhere in the world.Saves Time: Signing a document is super easy with digital signatures. When you have to sign a document, you do not have to go to an office just to sign papers. You can sign digital documents in the comfort of your home. This means that you can save a lot of time. Going to an office to sign a document can cost you a day to spend. You have to be in traffic and spend some money on gas and restaurants where you can have some food. But signing digitally gives a great benefit to your time. In seconds, you can finish signing digital documents on your computer while just at home. There will be no hassle. No need for any meet-ups. A whole day can be reserved just to spend with your family. You do not have to exert a great effort going to an office just to sign papers. This strategy saves a lot of time for businesses because team members can easily sign documents.Saves Money: Papers can be expensive. If you use digital signatures using digital documents, you can save a lot of money. Signing documents can be free. With digital signatures, you can have a system of signing where you do not have to pay much. There are online signing websites that are almost free. Some examples of these are Docusign and Adobe Acrobat. You can have valid signatures where you do not have to spend a lot of money. This is also true when you do not have to go to an office to sign a document. You can save the money that you can spend on going there. This will be very good for you because you will spend less while getting a lot of conveniences.Happy Users: Getting convenience in signing documents is sure with digital signatures. When we do not have to go to the office just to sign papers, this can make us happy. End-users will be content with digital signatures because they can make transactions easier. Anywhere they are, they can sign documents. So, if a document is urgent, you can sign it the fastest way. Even when you are in a store or driving, you can sign documents with just a few strokes of your finger. The result is happy users who will experience complete ease in signing digital documents.Better Company Image: Digital signatures are good for businesses. When a company uses them, they can give the company a good reputation. Companies will have a better image because people will think that they have more advanced technology. It means that they do their best to keep their services better. It has a modern appeal that can make people like the company. This can be a good brand strategy that can uplift their business. Advancing our technology is one of the best things that we can do to improve our business. We will not be left out of the latest trends that most customers are looking for.Environment Friendly: Digital signatures are more environmentally friendly. With digital signatures, we can decrease paper documents that can be converted to trash when they are obsolete. By using digital signatures, we will not have any problems with trash disposals. We can better ensure a green environment. So, if you are a person who loves the environment, digital signatures are a great option.Business Efficiency: Digital signatures can do a big favor for your business. It provides business efficiency in securing data. Signing documents digitally is the easiest way to finish all your transactions. It can give ease to your business. You can be sure that you can accomplish many business transactions in no time. Especially if you have a handful of business agreements. It will not take you so much time to finish everything.

How to Do Digital Signatures

Maybe using digital signatures on documents is new to you. There are certain ways how you can sign digital documents. You can draw your signatures in Word or Google. Or you can use your handwritten signature. But how can you do this? The following are the steps that you have to take:

1. Get Paper and Pen

The first step is to make a signature the usual way. Get a piece of paper and a black pen. On the paper, put or write your signature. As much as possible, write your best signature.

2. Scan or take a photo

You can have two options as the second step. You can either scan your signature or take a photo of it. This is needed so that you can have an electronic copy of your handwritten signature. Take the best shot of your signature. You can use a table, smartphone, or scanner in scanning or taking a photo of your signature.

3. Convert to PNG

The digital copy of your handwritten signature will be in JPEG format. You need to convert it to PNG so that you can use it. Use a conversion tool that will convert JPEG files to PNG files.

4. Use Your Digital Signature

Now, you have a digital signature. You can use it on Word and Google documents. Just drag and drop the digital signature on documents and place it above the line of signature blocks.

FAQs

How do digital signatures work?

There is an algorithm that creates a public key that will make your signature encrypted. The data will be secured and will be called a cryptographic hash that will be validated for authenticity.

Are digital signatures important?

Yes, they are important. Nowadays, many documents are digital and we have to ensure that they will be signed to provide authenticity. So, we need digital signatures to accomplish digital documents.

We are in the computer age so we cannot prevent the increase of digital signatures. Many transactions are done online and they are the ones that we need to accomplish every document. Anyway, digital signatures can provide the convenience that we need for every transaction. So, practice doing digital signatures for your own comfort.