The digital transformation and the use of the Internet for many business and day-to-day processes have made the electronic signature an essential tool for companies and individuals. Today it is common for documents to be signed remotely over the internet. To do this, a valid digital signature must be generated that guarantees that the signer is the person authorized to do so. But how do you know if a digital signature is valid?
8 April, 2022
Why is it important to know if a digital signature is valid?
When a digital contract is made, a commercial agreement is reached or any other action that requires a signature over the internet, it is important to verify that it is a valid digital signature. Otherwise, the signed document could be worthless, and therefore, the signatories may not be bound to comply with the conditions agreed upon in it.
Knowing if a digital signature is valid is also essential to prevent the signer from being a person who is implanting the identity of the signer.
How to verify that a digital signature is valid
To check if a digital signature is authentic, it is necessary to check the identity of the signer, the integrity of the signed document and the temporary validity of the certificate used. At CertiSur we have developed a certificate validation platform that makes this task easier and that unifies the criteria to determine if a document complies with a certain validation policy.
This tool is used to validate a digital certificate, perform a signature with a digital certificate, check if a digitally signed document is valid and collect information about the digital signature of a document.
In order to validate a signature, follow these steps:
- Go to the web portal https://signer.certisur.com/acme and select Validate.
- In the Select file option, search for the signed pdf document.
- Click on the Validate button.
The result obtained is whether the signature is valid, invalid, or the signing certificate has been revoked or expired.
Verify the identity of the signer
1. We see in the first image clearly the identity of the signer of the document.
Integrity of the Signed document
2. Here we see that the document has not been modified since it was signed.
Temporary validity of the Signatory’s certificate
3. We see in the image that the certificate was valid at the time of signing the document.
4. This image shows the result we get when a document is signed with a revoked certificate.
This service can be parameterized to respond to the validation needs of your organization by defining your logo, name or the certificate policies that you consider appropriate.
Now that you know how easy it is to validate a signature, don’t stop doing it every time you receive a signed contract or digital document.
