S-MIME
The electronic signature is a cryptographic technology used to verify the authenticity and integrity of digital documents and ensures that the signer cannot deny their approval of those documents. It provides a means to ensure that the digital file or message has not been altered or tampered with during transmission or storage and that it was indeed created by the specified person. It is also a representation of the legal personality in administrative, financial, commercial, and regulatory transactions over the internet or intranet. The electronic signature relies on asymmetric encryption technology where a pair of mathematically related keys are used: the private key and the public key. The private key is kept secret by the signer, while the public key is shared with others as proof or address of the signer to verify that the person with the private key is indeed the one who signed or sent the specified file.
The electronic signature offers significant benefits, including:
- Credibility: The digital signature provides the ability to verify the identity of the sender, ensuring that the digital document or message originates from the claimed source. This helps build trust and prevent identity fraud.
- Data Integrity: The digital signature protects the integrity of the data by ensuring that it has not been tampered with or altered since it was signed. Any modification to the signed document will render it invalid, thus ensuring the content remains intact.
- Non-repudiation: The digital signature is legally binding for the signer, ensuring that they cannot deny their approval of the signed documents. It means that the signer cannot deny their signature on the digital document. The signature is uniquely linked to the signer’s private key, which is under their sole control, making it legally enforceable.
- Security: The digital signature uses strong encryption algorithms to protect the signed data, ensuring that the recipient can be confident that the files or documents they receive are from the sender exclusively, without any tampering or interception.
