How Do You Know if a Document Is Real

Electronic signatures are here to stay, and that means we need to protect ourselves against forgeries and the legal fallout from fake signatures.

In a perfect world, your certificate would be electronically signed, and yous wouldn't need to worry about the authenticity of the signature.

But that'south not always the case, as you'll find in this post.

So, can you trust that the electronic signature on your document is bona fide?

Let's investigate how we can tell if an electronic signature is real.

Verifying Signatures in the Digital Age

Enquiry shows when the digital revolution introduced new expectations in the business world, more people demanded a fashion to sign documents remotely.

By 2014, over 200 million transactions were signed electronically worldwide.

The Clan for Intelligent Information Direction calls eSignatures the "new normal": a "linchpin" for streamlining the signing procedure for a range of services.

And companies who use electronic signatures reduced their turnaround time past upwards to 90%.

These benefits mean electronic signatures are condign the leading style for professionals and individuals to get things done quickly.

If you've ever signed a business concern agreement, yous've probably used some type of electronic signature.

But how secure are these signatures?

Let'south consider the contempo allegations of signature fraud. Customers claim a Florida business copied and pasted their eSignatures into documents they'd never seen before, like pricing estimates and financing applications.

It's scary stuff.

Cases similar these demonstrate the demand for effective - and efficient- ways to verify signatures are real.

If you're like near people, while yous're shopping for a solution to streamline your signing process, you don't want that convenience to come up at the toll of security.

In this mail service, we'll examine how you can ensure your signatures are existent with a signing solution similar eversign.

Different Types of Electronic Signatures

eSignature software will aid you lot relieve time and money, but they're non all created equal.

Despite the abundance of electronic signing options available, in that location are few that strike the balance betwixt security and ease of utilise.

Hither's some of the electronic signature solutions you may take encountered.

An Paradigm of Your Signature

I of the earliest ways to capture a signature is to accept an image of your handwritten signature and paste into a certificate.

To do this, you'd sign on a piece of newspaper, take a movie and salvage to your figurer. If yous're in Word, you caput over to the top toolbar (aka the "ribbon"), click Insert>Pictures. Browse the computer for your signature. Insert into your certificate, resize as needed and save your document.

It's easy, fast...and it comes with significant security risks.

There's no mode of verifying the signature is real.

You leave yourself open to forgery, contract breaches and long drawn-out legal dramas.

You don't have time for that.

Now you can opt for a third-party digital certificate to add brownie. But you could end up paying hundreds of dollars per year.

Overall, it can corporeality to a circuitous and plush solution.

Cloud-based Signing Solutions

Fortunately, the eSigning marketplace is booming.

Secure, simple applications are catering to the growing need for legally bounden, like shooting fish in a barrel eSigning options.

These software applications comply with the following regulations:

Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN) (LINK),
Compatible Electronic Transactions Human activity (UETA), and
European Union eIDAS (Eu No.910/2014).

Choosing an electronic signing that satisfies these regulations means your signature has the legal weight it needs to stand up in court.

Secure online signing solutions also come with security features like signer verification and an inspect trail.

There's likewise digital signatures that utilize a hashing algorithm to verify signatures. (These use a different type of engineering to the type of electronic signature we'll be discussing in this post.)

Why you lot Demand to Take Steps to Make Sure Electronic Signatures are existent

And so, now you take an thought of the different types of verification offered past different signing solutions.

But why does it all matter?

Imagine having to go to court to defend an agreement in the digital age.

How do you evidence that a signature is existent? Certain, you could rifle through emails or text messages to brand your case, only the other party could still dispute the signature, or charge that it doesn't comply with regulations.

How exercise the Courts Tell Whether an Electronic Signature is Real or Not?

Although electronic signatures seem to be one of those modern trends moving faster than the step of legal reform, courts are recognizing their validity - if the signing platform has the necessary checks in place.

Let's take a look at how the courts handle the consequence of whether an electronic signature is real or not.

In one example last year, a client took their merchant credit card company to court, arguing that they didn't review the documents before signing. However, e-signing records of times and dates were shown to the court.

One summit of that, the inspect trail offered by the document management system showed the documents were signed accessing the customer's company electronic mail. As a upshot, the courtroom granted summary judgement to the defendant.

Signs an Electronic Signature is Real

Then, how do yous protect yourself and make certain an electronic signature is existent?

There's no easy way to tell whether a signature is existent on your own, simply an online signing platform has advanced ways to accomplish this task.

We'll examine the ways you can use a tool like eversign to authenticate your documents, and the criteria to keep in mind when y'all're on the chase for an electronic signing solution.

Wait for:

detailed audit trails documenting each stage of the signing procedure;
software that complies with international eSigning regulations;
signer hallmark to prove the signer is who they say they are; and
tamper evidence to prevent people from secretly changing documents.

How to use eversign to Ensure an Electronic Signature is Existent

Now's let examine how a solution similar eversign helps ensure signatures are real.

Compliance

Every bit mentioned, you should determine whether your signing solution complies with the relevant regulations. Document management systems like eversign comply with ESIGN, UETA, and eIDAS.

Signer Hallmark

As we've seen with those before cases, it can be hard to cosign the identity of a signer with electronic signatures. How do you know the signature on the certificate is real?

Here's how eversign makes sure signatures are authentic.

Signers must verify their identity using an email double opt-in. This ways you lot need to invite the person to sign the certificate, and that request is sent to their electronic mail.

And so eversign will log the following data to authentic the signer:

signer's full names,
email addresses,
IP addresses, and
time stamp data forth with document transactions.

Annotation: if you lot determine to sign in person, this kind of email verification won't apply, and it will exist your responsibility to request proof that signers are who they say they are.

Unique Signatures

That's not the just way eversign verifies electronic signatures.

Each signer has iii options to enter a unique signature, they can:

draw a signature;
blazon a signature; or
upload a signature

First, the signer will select the blazon of signature and confirm information technology'due south a legal representation of their signature.

After this, they'll click on another tab to confirm that they understand the document is legally bounden.

Tamper Testify and Secure Storage

No signer can become back and secretly change the document in one case information technology'due south been signed. If the document is modified in whatever way, it's no longer valid.

Plus, because your data is deeply stored, and transferred via encryption, you lot can ensure your signature won't fall into the easily of cyber criminals.

Comprehensive Audit Trail

Audit trails tin serve as legal evidence, as was the case with the credit card visitor discussed earlier in this post. Technopedia defines an audit trail as a "concatenation of evidence", that can assist investigations that seek to "verify all parties are off-white, honest and truthful".

Each eversign document comes with a comprehensive audit trail.

This includes:

signer data;
signature timestamps, and
IP addresses.

Apply an eSigning Software You tin Trust

When you next need to sign any document electronically, don't settle for eSigning software that leaves y'all vulnerable.

Do your research, and brand sure the signing platform offers measures like an audit trail.

If it doesn't meet this criteria, advise using a tool like eversign.

On summit of existence compliant with regulations, eversign uses advanced data logging and identity authentication methods. So, the documents signed using eversign acquit the same weight as handwritten documents.

This is a better option for everyone involved.

Fifty-fifty if you're not coming together the other political party in person, they can trust the signature is really yours and you know your signature can't exist stolen and abused.

If you're the 1 requiring a document to exist signed, y'all can rest bodacious in that location are protections in place to authenticate the signer, and so you lot can avoid any future disputes.
Stride into the future of business agreements with confidence, sign up for eversign today.

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Source: https://blog.eversign.com/how-to-tell-if-a-signature-is-real/