Digital Signature Solutions

Big news for anyone who works with contracts! Microsoft just enabled electronic signatures directly in Word/SharePoint No more saving to PDF or using separate apps. As a former product lead on this at Microsoft (now CTO at Synozur), I've waited a long time for this integration and it's finally here. https://lnkd.in/gHACQusX Why it's a game changer: Stay in the flow: Draft a document in Word and send it for e-signature right there. The signed copy auto-saves back to SharePoint. No emails, no printing, no lost files. One platform: We can handle all our agreements (from NDAs to client Statements of Work) inside Microsoft 365. This cuts out extra steps and keeps everything organized and secure. Compliance & security: Documents never leave our secure cloud. We get full audit trails and our compliance policies cover the document even while it's being signed. For anyone in regulated industries or handling sensitive deals, this is huge. Integrations welcome: Have DocuSign or Adobe Sign? You can plug them in. But for most cases, the built-in solution does the job, which means fewer tools to manage and pay for. We've started using this at Synozur for our SOWs and NDAs, and it seriously streamlined the process. Faster turnarounds, less hassle, and our signed documents are all in one place (and searchable!). The bottom line: Microsoft just made it a lot easier to get paperwork done. If you're already in the ecosystem, this is worth exploring. It's one of those upgrades that your team will appreciate and your IT/security folks will love too (rare combo!). Have you tried the new SharePoint eSignature yet? Let me know your thoughts or questions. #Microsoft365 #SharePoint #eSignature #digitaltransformation #productivity #Synozur

Finally, digital signatures are on par with wet signatures, and where the EU has defined: an advanced electronic signature shall “not be denied legal effect and admissibility as evidence in legal proceedings”. I must applaud the EU for driving forward digital signing and digital identity in a way that no other region of the world has managed. Why? Because it wants to break down the barriers of the past between different countries and further support the harmonisation of markets and reduce friction to the freedom of movement. A core part of this is the adoption of the e-ID system across the EU, and where every business and citizen will have an electronic identity. While this does not differ that much from the normal identities we are given, the real magic happens when we can use this identity to digitally sign for transactions. This will finally replace our flawed wet signature approaches. Overall, with eIDAS, we break down the barriers that restrict movement and economic development over borders and finally give digital signatures their place as the foundation of our digital world. Article 25 of the eIDAS regulation [1] defines: an advanced electronic signature shall “not be denied legal effect and admissibility as evidence in legal proceedings”. Overall, with a digital signature, Bob creates a key pair: a public key and a private key. He then takes a hash of a message, and signs this with his private key. Alice then proves the signature with his public key: With eIDAS-2, there are five main signature methods: - XAdES (XML Advanced Electronic Signatures). This uses an XML approach to create a signature. - PAdES (PDF Advanced Electronic Signatures). This extends the existing PDF specification and also restricts its implementation in some areas (in order to enhance trust). - CAdES (CMS Advanced Electronic Signatures). This extends the approaches of using Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) signed data. - JAdES (JSON Advanced Electronic Signatures). This extends the JSON Web Signature (RFC 7515) methods. - ASiC (Associated Signature Containers). This binds one or more signed objects into advanced electronic signatures. XAdES (XML Advanced Electronic Signatures) is an Advanced Electronic Signatures (AdES), and is defined within XMLDSIG. AdES is defined as part of the EU Regulation No 910/2014 (eIDAS regulation) and is used to provide electronic identification and for trusted services related to electronic transactions in the EU. The signature methods supported include RSASSA-PKCS1-v1_5, RSA-PSS, ECDSA and HMAC. The first three methods are public key signature methods (RSA and ECDSA), while HMAC requires a shared secret key. In most circumstances, we use public key encryption, as it can be difficult to share the secret key. Demo: https://lnkd.in/emnqBxU6

Remember eSigning your offer letter? That wasn't just an image of signature – it's legally binding technology. During an eSignature, two keys are generated for the user: a private and a public key. The private key is used to create the eSignature and the public key can be used by anyone to verify it. When your employer signs the document, it's cryptographic hash is generated. This hash is encrypted using the signer's private key, creating an eSignature. This eSignature is appended to the document. When you sign the document, a cryptographic hash of the document (without the previous signature) is generated again, using the same algorithm. The first signer's public key is used to decrypt their eSignature. If the decrypted hash matches the hash you generated, the signature is validated and the document is confirmed as authentic. For your signature, the entire current document, including the previous eSignature, is hashed. This hash is then encrypted with your private key and appended to the document. The signature process is complete! The signature is included while hashing because it ensures complete integrity. Even tampering with the eSignature will be detected. Hence, an eSignature provides better protection against forgery than a handwritten signature.