The digital world is filled with opportunities to make transactions digitally, whether that involves buying something online, booking a hotel or flight, selling something on an auction site, or even renting an apartment. However, there are always risks when making transactions online. Fortunately, there are safeguards you can implement to protect yourself as well as make sure you know exactly who you’re dealing with. An electronic signature (or e-signature) is one such safeguard that will protect you from being taken advantage of when transacting digitally. In this blog post, we’ll explore what an e-signature is and why it’s so important for anyone who deals with other people online.

What Is A Digital Signature?

A digital signature is a type of electronic signature where a person’s unique signature is captured and secured using computer technology. It uses public key infrastructure (PKI) to create a digital identity that can be used to authenticate the identity of the person signing the document. Mostly people used it for online transaction like buy and sell product online, online stock trading, online travel booking and any other online business transaction. The earliest implementations of digital signatures came in the form of a user signing a document with an HSM/keyboard as input. Over time, digital signatures have evolved to become standardized and are now widely used in both business and personal life. They’re used primarily to protect against identity theft and fraudulent activities like impersonation.

Why Are Digital Signatures So Important?

Digital signatures are specifically designed to protect you against identity theft and address the fundamental weaknesses of handwritten signatures. For example, handwritten signatures have a few inherent weaknesses. First of all, they can’t be tracked at all. Secondly, people often don’t sign in the same way every time, which makes matching signatures more difficult when it comes to dispute resolution. Thirdly, you can’t prove when exactly a person signed a document. Digital signatures address all of these weaknesses. They can be traced, each signature can be matched to a particular person, and they allow you to prove when a person signed a document.

How To Protect Yourself With An Electronic Signature?

There are three main steps you need to take to protect yourself when signing documents electronically. First, you need to make sure you understand what an electronic signature is and if it’s legally valid. Second, you need to make sure you protect your public key. And third, make sure you verify the identity of the person you’re signing a document with. Once you understand how digital signature online, using it for your business can be beneficial.

Bottom line

Digital signatures are an important safeguard against identity theft and fraudulent activities. To protect yourself when signing documents electronically, make sure you understand what an electronic signature is, verify that the electronic signature is legally valid, protect your private key, and verify the identity of the person with whom you’re signing. With the benefits you can get from digital signature, you don’t have to wonder why a lot of businesses use it for their documents.