Electronic Signatures Higher Security Levels

Electronic Signatures Higher Security Levels

1. Usage of electronic signature pads in a "stand alone" application. This does not meet the test of a legal signature, especially because it does not bind the electronic signature to the document. Such signature can be removed simply by selection and pressing the delete button.
2. Use of digital signature software that encrypts the electronic signature, usage of Public/Private Key Infrastructure electronic signature technology. This safeguards electronic signatures and allows for verification of the signature with the use of the same software. The signature is captured using an electronic signature pads and stored in a file that can only be opened with a password. The signature generally meets all legal requirements and cannot be removed from the document.
3. By using digital certificates a signature also can be verified as “authentic”, similar to a notary public witnessing a paper signature. However, unlike a notary public witnessing a paper signature, these legal witnesses have not been established for the electronic world. These can be used within organizations to establish identities.
4. A higher form of security is to sign each document using digital signature pads. An electronic signature pad allows for a person to sign the document on screen. Similar to a paper signature, this allows for handwriting analysis to verify the authenticity of the signature.
5. The highest form of security is with the use of biometrics using a fingerprint or retina scan, which will unlock a person’s signature.

Signatures Security

Signatures Security

There are various levels of security of paper documents. Mostly applications enable signing document without anyone attesting this act. But higher level of security requires participating of witnesses. The definitive level of security is to have your signature witnessed by a notary public.
Moreover, in the electronic world there are different levels of security for electronic signatures. An electronic signature is an image, commonly in "tiff" format, with no security features. It is easy to copy that image and past it into another document. This is a perilous form of electronic signatures that some people have accepted. This can be considered as level 0 form of security.
The higher levels of security of electronic signatures are described in Electronic Signatures Higher Security Levels article.

Electronic Signatures Requirements

The whole area of electronic signatures makes confused most of organizations. People doubt that anything that looks like a signature on an electronic document is legal. Practically for using legal electronic signatures you must always sign documents by using appropriate software — the same requirement that is necessary for pen and paper signing.
Other requirements for both electronic and paper signing
1. Electronic signatures must be unique to the individual.
2. Electronic signatures must be verifiable as belonging to a person.
3. Electronic signatures must be under the sole control of the person signing (i.e., you cannot force someone to sign a document under duress).
4. Electronic signatures must be applied with intent.

Digital Signatures in Excel 2007 and Excel 2003

If you want to add a digital signature to your excel file, follow steps below.

Microsoft Office Excel 2007

Press the Microsoft Office Button > Prepare > Add a Digital Signature > OK.
Don't forget to save your Excel workbook in the Excel 2007 workbook format, before you add signatures.
If you get the warning message asking "Do you want to save the workbook as a Microsoft Office Excel Workbook?", click "Yes" and select the Excel Workbook (*.xlsx) format in the Save As dialog box.
When the workbook is saved, the dialog box "Get a Digital ID " is displayed. Choose the type of digital ID that you want to use, and then press "OK".
After you complete the before mentioned steps for the type of digital ID, the Excel workbook is signed.

Microsoft Office Excel 2003

Go to Tools menu > Options > Security tab > Digital Signatures > Add.
If you changed your Excel file and is didn't save it yet, or if you didn't save it in the Excel 2003 workbook format, the message "This workbook must be saved as a Microsoft Excel workbook before it can be digitally signed. Do you want to save the workbook?" appears.
You should save the file in the Microsoft Excel Workbook format to add the digital signature.
After your workbook is saved, the Select Certificate dialog box appears. Select the certificate to use, and click "OK".
Close the Digital Signatures dialog box (Click "OK").
You Excel workbook is signed.

E-Lock Digital Signatures

Digital Signature solutions by E-Lock are now used by the High Courts of India

E-Lock a leading provider of data security solutions has deployed multiple licenses of its Digital Signature product to the High Courts of India. The High Courts of India in a pursuit to shift to a paperless mode, selected the PKCS#7 compliant E-Lock product – DeskSeal Desktop.
The Indian IT Act 2000 provides legal recognition of electronic transactions and digital signatures. Section 5 of the Act gives legal recognition to digital signatures. At the moment, use of digital signatures is undertaken by sectors such as banking and financial services, online stock-trading portals and engineering organizations. The Government of India is stressing on e-governance as an effective delivery channel of all government services to citizens. As a result, several Government Organizations have undertaken the process of shifting their workflow to electronic mode.
E-Lock DeskSeal Desktop was offered to the High Courts through a Government agency. DeskSeal Desktop is a desktop-based digital signing utility that signs files of any format. As it is wizard-based, it enables even a novice user to digitally sign and verify files with ease. This product is PKCS#7 compliant, which enables users to abide by the regulations laid by e-signature laws worldwide.
“The deployment of our digital signature product at the High Courts talks about the initiative of Indian Government to go electronic. E-Lock has been providing its products & solutions to several other Government entities to fulfill this objective,” says Suniel Mande, VP Sales – E-Lock.

About E-Lock

E-Lock is leading brand of Digital Signature products and solutions. The E-Lock Digital Signatures are used across Government, Healthcare, Finance, Insurance and other sectors to secure and authenticate their electronic records and data. These products and solutions are compliant with various laws that affect the management of electronic information. E-Lock offers a wide range of digital signature products and solutions that can be classified as desktop based, web-based and server-based. The E-Lock products and solutions are simple to install and easy to use. Several organizations across the world use E-Lock solutions to go paperless and secure the data.

For more information about digital signatures, or to schedule an interview with www.elock.com please contact at info@elock.com

VBA Digital Signature

Digital Signature for VBA Project

Once you have your digital certificate installed, you can sign the VBA projects associated with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents, templates, and add-ins. For Outlook, you can sign the VBA project that is associated with the installation of Outlook on a particular computer. Any time code in a signed VBA project is modified in any way, its digital signature is removed. However, modifying the contents of the document other than the VBA code won't invalidate the signature on a VBA project contained within the document. This is because only the VBA project is signed, not the entire document.
If you want to prevent users of your solution from accidentally modifying your VBA code and invalidating your signature, lock the VBA project before signing it. Locking your VBA project doesn't prevent another user from replacing the with another digital signature. This is allowed so that a system administrator or end user can replace a current signature with an approved signature or re-sign a document after a previous signature expires.
Similarly, if you produce an add-in that adds code to a document's VBA project, your code should determine if the project is digitally signed and notify the user of the consequences of modifying a signed VBA project before continuing.

VBA Digital Signature - How to sign VBA projects

You create digital signature for VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) project by using a digital certificate.
If you don't already have a digital certificate, you must obtain one.
You can obtain a digital certificate from a commercial certification authority, such as VeriSign, Inc., or from your internal security administrator or Information Technology (IT) professional. Or, you can create a digital signature yourself by using the Selfcert.exe tool.
Because a digital certificate you create yourself isn't issued by a formal certification authority, VBA projects signed by using such a certificate are referred to as self-signed projects. Depending on how Microsoft Office digital-signature features are being used in your organization, you might be prevented from using such a certificate, and other users might not be able to run self-signed macros for security reasons.

Steps for VBA Digital Signature

2. Open the file that contains the VBA project you want to sign.
3. On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Visual Basic Editor.
4. In the Project Explorer, select the project you want to sign.
5. On the Tools menu, click Digital Signature.
6. If you haven't previously selected a digital certificate or want to use another one, click Choose, select the certificate, and then click OK twice.
7. To use the current certificate, click OK.

Verisign Digital Signature

Digital Signatures became available as one of the AutoCAD extensions, part of the Autodesk Subscription program.

Verisign Digital Signature - How to Get

First of all, you need to get a digital signature. There are numerous certificate authorities that are happy to take your money and give you a digital signature -in fact, most of them offer a free trial option. Autodesk uses a company called Verisign as its digital-signature provider, but it isn't mandatory that you use them. The first time you launch the Digital Signature program, you will be sent to Verisign to get a digital signature (unless you already have one). There are different types of digital signatures depending on the level of security you need. If you want a digital signature that prompts for a password every time you use it, you'll have to pay more. You can even get a minimum-security signature on a 60-day trial basis for free, which I recommend until you decide you're completely sold on the digital-signature concept. When you're ready to make the commitment, you'll find you can get a digital signature for a year for $15.95. Digital signatures are stored in the REG file.

I found it very painful trying to move my digital signature from one computer to the next when I upgraded my laptop. I couldn't even buy another one because it was linked to my email address and Verisign kept telling me I already had a digital signature. After working with the Verisign customer service (and a few gray hairs later), I was finally able to figure out how to move it. Just a heads-up here!

Each digital signature ID is unique and is made up of a name, serial number, and an expiration date, along with other assorted information. Once you get your digital signature ID, AutoCAD will remember that long ID.

Verisign digital signature - How to attach in AutoCAD

After your digital signature is installed, you're ready to sign some documents. Simply execute the "Attach Digital Signature" command (external to AutoCAD), which is located in your Program menu under "Autodesk," and you'll see a dialog box displayed. We'll begin by selecting a couple of drawings we'd like to sign by picking the "Add files" button. There's even a simple Search mechanism included in the dialog, should you accidentally misplace your drawing files. After selecting the desired drawing files, you can time-stamp the signature by grabbing the time from the signing computer, or opt for an exact time from the time server of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the U.S. Naval observatory, or Caltech University. Finish off your signature with any pertinent comments by inputting any appropriate text. When you're ready to make it official, select the Sign Files button. If all goes well you'll be prompted with the number of signed files. The status for these files will change in the dialog.

Verisign digital signature - How to attach in Outlook

1. Go to https://digitalid.verisign.com/client/class1MS.htm in Internet Explorer.
2. Fill in your first name, last name, email address and a simple memorable password (in the challenge phrase box)
3. Select "I'd like to test drive a 60-day trial Digital Signature ID for free"
4. Scroll down and accept, check the details and agree.
5. When the email from Verisign comes in, copy the Digital PIN and click on the link.
6. Paste the Digital PIN into the new webpage and click "INSTALL", again Agree/say yes to the boxes it presents.
7. Open Outlook , go to Tools > Options > Security and tick the checkbox for "Add Digital Signature to outgoing messages"
8. Click OK.