What are digital signatures?

Digital signatures are data structures which are created through a cryptographic calculation of a document or an e-mail with the private key of the signer. Everyone may validate the integrity and authenticity of the digitally signed document using the signer's public key. Furthermore one can prove inambiguously who has signed the document. Trust in the public key is established by a digital certificate which is issued by a trustcenter. A document may also be signed by multiple signers in a parallel or sequential manner. By this, typical signature processes may be transformed to electronic workflows.

The signature laws in each country provide the legal frameworks for this. Processes that require a written form per law will also become legally binding by using a so called qualified signature. For the majority of business processes, however, no such form requirements exist. These processes may be secured on an equivalent technical level using advanced electronic signatures.

• Saving of time
  The duration of paper based processes with several signers in different office locations is typically in the range of several days up to weeks. A time reduction down to a few hours is possible when using digital signatures.
• Cost reduction
  The total cost for paper processes with handwritten signatures comprise cost for printing, enveloping, franking and shipping a document and furthermore for archiving it. When moving towards electronic invoices, for example, which require digital signatures per EU law, total cost may be reduced by several Euros per transaction.
• Increased Security
  The doubtless validation of paper signatures may only be achieved by high efforts and the risk of accepting falsified signatures is relatively high. Often, the verifier may even not be able to map a signature to a person. A digital signature significantly increases the security and reliability of the verification process.
• Compliance
  In several areas it is required, that moving from paper to electronic processes must be supported by electronic signatures. One example is the FDA's code for regulation 21 CFR Part 11 which is mandatory for pharma and medical equipment manufacturers.
• Legal
  EU laws permit the usage of electronic forms together with qualified signatures which are legally equivalent with handwritten signatures.