How to Validate Your eSignature

With the world evolving digitally, electronic signatures are no less than a magic wand for businesses and people alike. They offer easy, secure, and legally compliant signing of documents online in no time. However, creating an electronic signature is not that big of a thing; validation of your eSignature is equally important and is done to ensure legal strength and security.

In this blog, we will walk you through the process of validating your eSignature, explaining what it is, how to do electronic signature on PDF documents, and how you can ensure its authenticity.

What is an eSignature?

An e-signature, or electronic signature, refers to the digital image of an individual's intent to assent to the content contained in a document. In its creation, an electronic signature can be in any one of several forms including a scanned image of a handwritten signature, a typed name, and/or a stylus/touchpad-based signature generated using a mobile or computer device.

In most cases, eSignatures are legally binding if they comply with the proper regulations and are supported by secure technology. To ensure that your eSignature is valid, however, you must ensure that it is authenticated properly.

Why Is eSignature Validation Important?

Validation of your eSignature means that:

• The signature is authentic and has not been tampered with.
• The identity of the signer has been verified.
• The document has not been altered after signing.
• The signing process complies with the legal requirements.

Understanding how to validate your eSignature can help you avoid legal complications, ensuring that your document is considered valid in court or business transactions.

How to Validate Your eSignature?

Here’s how you can validate your eSignature to ensure it’s legitimate and secure:

1. Check the Signature’s Integrity

You have to prove that the document hasn’t been modified after you applied the signature. emSigner features advanced digital signatures that feature encryption. Thus, a change in the document from an unauthorized source can easily be detected, and if altered, the signature becomes null.

Many PDF readers such as Adobe Acrobat allow users to verify digital signatures by simply clicking on the signature field. If the signature is valid, the software will confirm that the document hasn’t been modified since it was signed.

2. Use Trusted Signature Validation Software

When you sign using emSigner, the software gives you a secure digital signature, which is verifiable, and based on a Certificate Authority (CA). This ensures that in case you use any validation tools like emSigner to verify your signature, there will be authentication of the identity of the signer.

This is important in proving the legality and authenticity of the eSignature, as the CA checks the identity of the signer and ensures that the digital signature meets the standards set by the industry. Digital signature validation tools will check the cryptographic components of the signature to confirm its validity.

3. Check for Certificate Expiry

Digital certificates are commonly used in the creation of eSignatures. These certificates have a date of expiration. The certificate used to create the eSignature should be valid. If the certificate has passed its date of expiration, the signature may not be valid anymore. Make sure to check the validity of the signing certificate to ensure that your eSignature is valid.

Most verification signature tools, such as emSigner, will provide automatic notification to you should the certificate have expired or if the certificate chain has issues.

4. Validate the Signer’s Identification

Another essential characteristic of the validation of eSignatures is confirming the identity of the person signing. This is mainly necessary for sensitive documents like contracts, agreements, or legal papers. Most electronic signature services implement identity verification procedures, including multi-factor authentication or identity proofing processes, in the case of most services, such as emSigner.

These are measures taken to ensure that the one signing the document is the person they say they are. This is a further safety measure and increases confidence in the document signing process.

5. Use Timestamping

Timestamping is a method applied in the validation of the specific time when a document is signed. This can help when you need to determine the time when the signature was applied. Most digital signature solutions, including emSigner, offer timestamping as part of the process.

Timestamping ensures that people can’t dispute the validity of the signature based on its timing.

How to Do Electronic Signature on PDF?

One of the most common documents that are usually required to be eSigned is a PDF. Luckily, emSigner has streamlined the process of how easily one can eSign their PDFs and verify their signatures in just a few clicks. Here's how to do an electronic signature on a PDF using emSigner:

1. Upload the PDF Document: First, upload your PDF document to the emSigner platform.
2. Choose Your Signature: Select your signature from the options available (drawn signature, uploaded image, etc.).
3. Sign the Document: You can place your signature in the appropriate location within the document.
4. Verify Your Signature: Once you sign, the platform will automatically verify your eSignature, ensuring it is authentic and secure.
5. Download the Signed Document: After verification, you may download the signed PDF document.

With emSigner, you don’t just create an eSignature, but it also ensures that your signature is valid and legally enforceable.

Conclusion

Validating your eSignature will enable it to last and survive well in a legal or commercial environment. Creating, validating, and managing eSignatures safely are done by using tools like emSigner. No matter how significant the paper document you would like to sign—whether it’s a contract or a simple form—knowing how to validate eSignatures ensures that they are valid, safe, and legally binding.

If you’re looking for a reliable and efficient solution to create and validate your eSignatures, emSigner is the perfect platform for you. It guarantees that your eSignatures are legally compliant, secure, and easy to manage.

Start validating your eSignature today with emSigner, and enjoy the benefits of seamless and secure eSigning!