What is a Digital Signature? Digital signatures (standard electronic signatures) take the concept of traditional paper-based signing and turn it into an electronic “fingerprint.” This “fingerprint,” or coded message, is unique to both the document and the signer and binds both of them together.Digital signature ensures the authenticity of the signer. Any changes made to the document after it is signed – invalidates the signature, thereby protecting against signature forgery and information tampering.Digital signatures sustain signer authenticity, accountability, data integrity and non-repudiation of documents and transactions.
What is an Electronic Signature? Electronic signatures are defined as an electronic sound (e.g., audio files of a person’s voice), symbol (e.g., a graphic representation of a person in JPEG file), or process (e.g., a procedure that conveys assent), attached to or logically associated with a record, and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record.An electronic signature is easy to implement, since something as simple as a typed name can serve as one. Consequently, electronic signatures are very problematic with regards to maintaining integrity and security, as there is nothing to prevent one individual from typing another individual’s name. Due to this reality, electronic signatures that do not incorporate additional measures of security are considered an insecure way of signing documentation.
What kinds of documents should I sign? Documents sent regularly using Secured Signing service include contracts, non-disclosure agreements (NDA), proposal acceptances, change orders, Ad proofs, expense reports, purchase orders, rental/ lease agreements, independent contractor agreements, time sheets, and many more. You should be aware that certain countries statutes dictate how documents should be signed for which digital signing may not be valid. For example, but without limitation, the following types of documents SHOULD NOT be signed in Australia and New Zealand using our digital signing services: Wills, Documents transferring an interest in land, Powers of attorney, and Deeds. WE MAKE NO REPRESENTATION WHATSOEVER THAT ANY DOCUMENT WHICH YOU ARE PROPOSING TO SIGN USING OUR DIGITAL SIGNING SERVICES MAY BE VALIDLY SIGNED IN THAT MANNER. YOU NEED TO SATISFY YOURSELF THAT THE DOCUMENT YOU ARE PROPOSING TO SIGN USING OUR DIGITAL SIGNING SERVICES IS CAPABLE OF BEING SIGNED IN THAT MANNER.
Are Electronic Signatures Legally Binding? Electronic signatures are legally binding in many countries worldwide. Secured signing service complies with ESIGN, UETA, Electronic Transactions Acts, and many more. Some Legislation worldwide: Australian Capital Territory – ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS ACT 2001 Australia, New South Wales (NSW) – ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS ACT 2000 Australia, Northern Territory (NT) – ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS ACT 2000 Australia, QLD – ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS (QUEENSLAND) ACT 2001 Australia, VIC – ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS (VICTORIA) ACT 2000 Australia, SA – ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS ACT 2000 Australia, WA – ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS ACT 2003 Australia Tasmania – ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS ACT 2000 Canada – Uniform Electronic Commerce Act (UECA) China – Electronic Signature Law of the People’s Republic of China Europe – EU Directive for Electronic Signatures (1999/93/EC) Europe – EU VAT Directive New Zealand – Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017 South Africa – Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2002 UK – Electronic Communications Act 2000 (chapter 7) U.S. – Electronic Signature in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN) U.S. – Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA)- adopted by 48 states
Is it safe to sign documents online using Secured Signing web service? Yes! While documents sent by fax and mail are exposed throughout intra-office distribution, electronic documents are kept completely confidential and are viewed only by designated recipients.By using Personalized X509 PKI Digital Signature technology, documents signed with Secured Signing online service, cannot be misplaced, lost, or destroyed, and can’t be change within secured signing service.
What does Secured Signing do? Secured Signing is a web application Software as a Service that allows you to fill-in and sign legally binding documents online using the secured Personalized X509 PKI Digital Signature technology.The service enables a registered user to receive a unique private key for signing, add a document to the system, sign it digitally, invite a third party if required and send it to parties involved to sign.Anyone who took part in the signing process or has received the signed document is able to verify signature(s) on their desktop or by using our Online Verification service.The signing process is secured, simple, and accomplished in minutes.
Secured Signing “Certificate Authority” Certificate For more information, see our Digital Signatures Verification Service Download Secured Signing CA Root Certificate To verify signed documents with Secured Signing on your desktop (OFFLINE) you’ll need to download and install the Secured Signing CA Root Certificate.Download the certificate here! What is a Secured Signing CA Root Certificate? All Certificates on Secured Signing are signed by the private key of the Secured Signing Certificate Authority. You can download the Secured Signing Root CA to check whether your signed documents are signed by trusted and valid Secured Signing Certificate. Download our CA CertificateInstall on: Windows XP, Windows XP, Windows 7Verify with: Adobe Reader 7, Adobe Reader 8, Adobe Reader 9, Adobe Reader XI
Configuring Single Sign On for Secured Signing using Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) Setting up active directory federation services for use with Secured Signing will allow the nominated users within your domain to use the Secured Signing service using their network credentials. When the single sign on option is enabled in Secured Signing, logged in users will not need to enter their username and password in Secured Signing.The configuration process requires: Activation and configuration of federations services within Active Directory;Add Secured Signing as a relying party trust in ADFS; andConfiguration of your Secured Signing membership to accept authentication against Active Directory using federation services. Tab #1 Tab #2 Tab #1 Prepare a valid ssl certificate (.pfx file, with private key). This certificate will be used by the ADFS federation service website, so it should be valid with your ADFS website domain name.Add Active Directory Federation Service Role to the serverOn Windows 2016, Open Server Manager, click “Add roles and features”, select “Active Directory Federation Service” on the popup, and press next to install new role.For more details: visit hereRun ADFS Management tool from Service Manger.Click “Certificates”, import your certificate to ADFS service. Tab #2 If not already installed, download & install ADFS 2.0. The software is available from: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/azure/dn151310.aspxNOTE: Don’t install the ADFS role from server managementIf you are using Windows Server 2008 R2, you will need to apply the ADFS 2.0 hot fix. Download it from: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2790338/description-of-update-rollup-3-for-active-directory-federation-services-ad-fs-2.0 Prepare a valid ssl certificate (.pfx file, with private key). This certificate will be used by the ADFS federation service website, so it should be valid with your ADFS website domain name.Import this certificate to IISOpen IIS, click server node, double click “Server Certificates”, then click “Import” at the right action panel. Configure the ADFS 2.0 Federation serviceRun ADFS 2.0 Management Console as domain administrator. Run “Create new federation service” wizard. Use the certificate imported above to finish the configuration.In IIS manager, go to the “Default Web Site/adfs/ls” application,. Double click “Authentication”, enable “Windows Authentication”. In the advanced settings window, select “Extended Protection” to “Off”.On IIS manager, add https bindings with above certificate to Default Web Site.Don’t change other default settings in IISIn ADFS 2.0 Management Console, find metadata xml path from right panel of “ADFS 2.0/Service/Endpoints”. It should be in the format https://your.domain.com/FederationMetadata/2007-06/FederationMetadata.xmlVerify the ADFS service is running by accessing the server: https://your.domain.com /adfs/ls/IdpInitiatedSignon.aspxEnable CROS for ADFS websiteAdd below lines to the web.config under “Default Web Site/adfs/ls” application directory:<system.webServer> <httpProtocol> <customHeaders> <add name=”Access-Control-Allow-Origin” value=”*” /> </customHeaders></httpProtocol></system.webServer> Step 1 Receive an email invitation to sign If you received an email invitation to sign follow the link to sign and invite a witness to sign online. Step 2 Sign and Invitee a Witness Click to Sign sticker and add witness details in the pop-up. Once signed an email invitation will send out for a witness.
Configuring Single Sign On for Secured Signing using Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Setting up Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) for use with Secured Signing will allow the users can login Secured Signing by using their organizational account hosted in Azure AD as the Identity Provider. When the Azure AD single sign on option is enabled in Secured Signing, logged in users will not need to enter their password in Secured Signing.The configuration process requires:Install app in Azure AD for your organization.Configuration of your Secured Signing membership to accept authentication against Azure Active Directory.Join an Existing Secured Signing Account to a Membership with Azure AD Single Sign On enabledInitial Login with Single Sign On (Azure AD) Install app in Azure AD for your organization 1. Make sure you login Azure AD portal (https://portal.azure.com) with administrator account and click Azure Active Directory icon. 2. Click Enterprise Applications menu item. 3. Click + New Application menu item. 4. In Add from the gallery section, type secured signing, then it will auto populate – Secured Signing Login, click on that. 5. Now, click Sign up for Secured Signing Login, it will redirect you to app consent authority page. 6. Read the consent information and click “Accept” button to continue. 7. After that, it will jump back to Secured Signing website, since you haven’t bound account between Secured Signing and Azure AD, you can’t login right now, please continue to read the below chapter – Setup Single Sign On with Azure AD in your Secured Signing Membership You can confirm app has been installed by visit MyApps (it may takes several minutes to appear) Setup Single Sign On with Azure AD in your Secured Signing Membership You need an enterprise account to integrate secured signing.Login to the Enterprise Portal and go to “Memberships“Select the membership that requires single sign on with Azure AD.Click “Single Sign On” tab.Tick “Enable Single Sign On Azure Active Directory” checkbox.Click “SAVE SETTINGS” button.Then, all users in that membership will use Azure AD to login. Activate user accountOnce new user account created for that membership (Azure AD login) through Enterprise Portal, the user will receive an activation email, click Click to Activate button in the email. Then in the activation page, you just need to click Activate button (the email address already pop-uped), then, it will redirect you to Azure AD, you need to input your Azure AD password for authentication, after that, it will redirect you back to our website with log-ined status. Join an Existing Secured Signing Account to a Membership with Azure AD Single Sign On enabledFor an existing user, he/she can join a membership by adding the membership code to the My Account > My Details page, put Membership Code and click “Join Membership“ Initial Login with Single Sign On (Azure AD)Once single sign on (Azure AD) is enabled, the first time each user accesses Secured Signing they will need to input their email to login. A password for this case is not required.The system will check if Single Sign On (Azure AD) is enabled for this user. If so, it will redirect to Azure AD login page. Then the user input his/her organizational logon credential to login with Azure AD server. The user can check the option to “Remember my email” to login with Azure AD next time.Once the user has logged in with Azure AD successfully, the user will be redirected to Secured Signing.
Verifying Digital Signatures Option 1 Use the Verifier tool on our website Access the verifier tool from here Signatures Verification.Click Verify Document, select from the option that works accordingly – eg. Free – Secured Signing Documents and click Upload to add the document you wish to verify.Click verify to check all signatures embedded in the document are valid. option 2 Verifier tool in Adobe PDF Reader Open the signed document with Adobe ReaderPlease note this example shows Adobe Reader Version XIClick on Digital Signature Field > Signature Properties > Show Signer Certificate > Trust tab > Click Add to Trusted Certificates > Ok > Reopen the Signe PDF FileNow the Adobe reader trusted the Secured Signing root certificate and the digital signature able to be verified by Adobe reader. View other versions below:Adobe Reader 7Adobe Reader 8Adobe Reader 9 and 10 option 3 Verifier tool (Account > Viewer) Login to your Secured Signing Account and click the Signed tab on the top-right of the page. Click the View icon under Actions column and then the Verify button on the top left-hand side Another way to verify your document is click the Check: Verify the Signature on your Document icon