The increasing use of the Internet for business transactions and activities has become a cause for concern over their security and authenticity for a while. A digital signature comes in handy and plays a major role here.
Digital signatures facilitate faster online transactions and they help you to ensure the integrity and authenticity of business transactions and related documents. They serve as a means of authenticating the signer’s identity and ensuring that the document has not been tampered with. They are simply an electronic equivalent of a handwritten signature and are safer than the conventional means of obtaining essential wet signatures.
Get to Know What a Digital Signature Is
A sort of electronic signature called a “digital signature” is used to confirm the integrity and veracity of documents sent digitally. Digital communication can be verified using a digital signature, a kind of digital identity. You can determine the originality of the digital document by ensuring that the e-document or message in transit is not subject to any unauthorized access or tampering.
By validating the document, a digital signature provides important information about the sender and signatories and the date and time of completing and sending it. Without having physical access to the signature instrument or thing being signed, digital signatures offer verification and confirmation. A mathematical algorithm is used to generate a distinctive code, like a digital signature, to append to the final document.
This code is unique to the person who owns the signature and one cannot alter or fake it. This secure digital signing solution is an acceptable and possible alternative to a wet signature.
It is possible to verify that a document has not been changed or tampered with after the digital signature was added to it. It also offers a means of confirming the legitimacy of the signatory. You have banks, like DBS, that can help you with a seamless digital signing process, wherein the parties to the contract will receive the completed copy of the document online, mostly by email.
How Does a Digital Signature Work?
With a digital signature, you can ensure advanced security. Using asymmetric encryption, it offers separate keys for signing and decrypting messages. For instance, the signer uses a private key to encrypt and encode data, while the receiver has a public key to decode or decrypt data. It guarantees that the data is not misused while in transit and is secure.
You can find digital signatures using email signing, digital certificates, and public and private keys. Based on your company’s demands, you should choose a suitable digital signature. Some steps to follow to use DBS’ digital signature service.
Step 1: DBS will email you
The bank sends a safe once-only email link to each permitted signatory.
Step 2: DBS will send you an SMS
Each approved signatory gets an SMS with a secure once-only access PIN.
Step 3: Sign digitally
Once you have completed the verification of email and SMS successfully, you can view the document and sign it digitally.
Step 4: Obtain immediate notification
The duly completed and e-signed document will be sent to the applicant, approved signatories, and DBS via email.
What Are the Benefits of Using a Digital Signature?
Digital signatures are:
1. Paperless
You have an easy and quick way to go green by using digital signatures.
2. Faster and more secure
Traditional methods of obtaining an essential signature online take longer than digital signatures. You can safely and swiftly sign documents at any place and at any time using a digital signature service.
3. Easy and efficient
You can reduce the inconvenience and lower the wait time for mailing hard copies of documents. You only need to click a few times to sign digitally. By decreasing the administrative activities associated with manual handling, they assist in simplifying processes such as document sharing among partners or clients.
4. Helps status tracking
It helps you have immediate access to information on the signing procedure. Moreover, digital fingerprints show the time when you sent the data, which aids in the detection of communications or files that have been sent again after an incident that should have rendered the original document invalid.
The use of digital signatures is increasing. Businesses can benefit from what digital signatures have to offer.