The Difference Between Digital Signatures and Electronic Signatures

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The Difference Between Digital Signatures and
Electronic Signatures
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I dont know why, but the technology industry
loves to use acronyms and words that seem to
either overlap with other similar words, or that
are a slight variation on a word, but with widely
different meanings. This is the case in the world
of digitized signatures too. The terms,
electronic signature and digital signature
are often used interchangeably, but they are in
fact different beasts all together. Ill explain
why below. What is an electronic signature? An
electronic signature is a way of representing
your signature on a computerized document, for
example a delivery slip. The term electronic
signature can refer to several different methods
of capturing a signature on a document or device.
This includes methods such as using a tablet or
mobile app to capture an image of a handwritten
signature. It can also be simply typing your name
into a signature box. An example of a commonly
created electronic signature is when you sign for
a delivery on the couriers digital device. What
is a digital signature? A digital signature is
much more than an electronic signature.
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• Digital signatures become intrinsically linked to
  the content of the digital document using
  encryption.
• Anyone digitally signing a document needs a
  digital certificate the certificate being unique
  to that individual. The certificate contains a
  public and a private key known as a key pair.
  Digital signature software works by performing
  these steps
• The software creates a hash of the document
  content. Hashes are representations of the whole
  content, including images.
• 2. The signatories certificate is then used to
  encrypt the hash. This combination of hashing and
  encryption creates an intrinsic connection
  between the document and the signatory digital
  signing in this way, ties the two together.
• 3. The document hash is checked using the public
  key of the certificate to make sure it can be
  decrypted. It can only be decrypted if the users
  public key matches the private key used to
  encrypt the document.
• 4. When the signature is checked using the
  digital signing software, the original document
  is hashed again and both the original and signed
  hash are crosschecked. If theres a difference
  between them, then the signature is invalidated.

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• Because a digital signature is effectively,
  wrapped up in the content of the document, it
  means that if anyone tries to change anything
  about that document content, the signature will
  also change. It effectively invalidates the
  signature and indicates that the document has
  been tampered with.
• Whats the difference between a digital signature
  and an electronic signature?
• The table below shows a quick, at-a-glance view
  of some of the key differences between digital
  signatures and electronic signatures
• Digital Signature
• Digital signatures are like a lock on a document.
  If the document changes after the signature is
  applied, it will show up as an invalidated
  signature.
• Digital signatures are very secure. Hashes cannot
  be easily undone and encryption using a digital
  certificate is highly secure. 
• A digital signature is hard to deny. This is also
  known as non-repudiation. A digital signature is
  associated with an individuals private key of a
  digital certificate. This identifies them as
  being the signatory, as it is unique.

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• Digital signatures are nearly always time
  stamped. This is very useful in a court of law to
  tie a person to a signature at a specific day and
  time. 
• Digital signatures can hold logs of events,
  showing when each signature was applied. In
  advanced digital signature products like
  ApproveMe, this audit trail can even send out
  alerts if the log is tampered with. 
• The digital certificates representing the
  individual signatories give details of the person
  signing the document, such as full name, email
  address and company name they are tied to the
  document signature through the certificate.
• Electronic Signature
• Electronic signatures are open to tampering.
• Electronic signatures are not based on standards
  and tend to use proprietary methods so are
  intrinsically less secure.
• Electronic signatures are much harder to verify.

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• Electronic signatures can have a time and date
  associated with the signature but it is held
  separate to the signature itself so is open to
  abuse.
• Audit logs are not easily applied to electronic
  signatures.
• If details of the person placing an electronic
  signature on a device or document are required,
  they have to be placed separately to the
  signature and are not held with the signature
  itself, therefore are more open to abuse.
• What are digital signatures used for?
• For these reasons, digital signatures hold up in
  a court of law far better than electronic
  signatures. It is much easier to prove who signed
  the document, when they signed and that their
  credentials were valid at the time of signing.
• One of the really neat things about digital
  signatures is that they become an intrinsic part
  of a document lifecycle. So you can imagine that
  a legal document, like a contract, really
  benefits from utilizing digital signatures. You
  can create the contract, share it, agree it, add
  multiple signatories to it to finalize it and it
  will all be audited. You know, once it is signed,
  that it is set in stone. Any changes will show up
  in an invalidated signature and audit trail.
• In a world of electronic documents, a digital
  signature is the natural way to sign, seal and
  deliver on a promise.

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ApproveMes WP E-Signature utilizes propriary
digital signature technology to ensure that
documents, contracts and legal agreements that
are signed on your WordPress website adhere to
the strictest esign laws and regulations.   To
read more about the digital signature security
you can visit this helpful article about WP
eSignature security.   Or if you would like to
use your WordPress powered website to create,
send, and receive digital signatures on your
documents and contracts you can learn more about
WP E-Signature at www.approveme.com   Article
Resource https//www.approveme.com/e-signature/di
fference-between-digital-signature-and-electronic-
signature/