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How to Digitally "Sign" a document

Asked 2008-10-08T16:30:12.227
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I don't like paper documents. I like everything stored on a server. I'd like to avoid printing, signing, and scanning, if possible.

How do I get signatures from people to sign-off on forms and still keep it digital?

The purpose of signing is to prove that certain departments have OK'd the document. Most of these people are non-technical.

The ideal is that each person would open the document and type in their name and close the document. The problem is that how do I know that Fred didn't sign for Ralph.

security cryptography
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2 Answers

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There are myriad approaches discussed in Schneier's Applied Cryptography.

Much of what you're looking for comes down to a Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA) - of which NIST has one, asymetric encryption algorithms can provide, etc.

The simple route would be to collect delivery and read receipts on email, but that's not fool-proof.

answered 2008-10-08T16:32:46.403
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There is software for adding a digital security component to a handwritten signature. The signature is captured using some sort of touchpad device, and stored in the document. Then the software digitally signs the entire document including the signature graphic, to prove that the document was not changed since the signature was applied.

answered 2008-10-08T17:25:13.160

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