Digital Signature Solutions for e-ID Validation and e-Signature Verification

Business Need

The amount of user interactions being conducted via the web is ever-increasing in the drive to provide efficient and cost-effective services to customers, employees, partners, citizens etc. However communicating over the internet requires trust in the electronic identity (eID) of the transacting parties. Only after such trust is established should access be granted to online systems and web-based resources, and only then should digitally signed agreements be accepted with confidence.

The use of PKI-based digital certificates is a long-accepted technique for managing electronic identities. It forms an essential element in securing communications channels within protocols such as SSL/TLS and IPSEC. Digital passports and citizen eID cards with embedded digital certificates that confirm the identity of the holder are becoming more common.

All these digital certificates need to be validated by relying parties since they may have been compromised or revoked after issuance. They also need to be checked because there may be a range of certificates issued by different issuers under different security policies to meet different trust levels. Deciding which digital certificates to trust can be a complicated task.

With regards to verification of e-signatures the complexities increase even further. There are many different signature and document formats, multiple ways of applying countersignatures, determining whether the signer was authorised to sign, historical verification of signatures, etc.

Ascertia provides products and solutions that answer these questions and remove the entire complexity of signature verification, certificate validation and trust management from business applications. Ascertia products and solutions are used internally with an organisation and by Managed Service Providers offering global verification services to multiple customer organisations.