Trustworthiness
of the inSign signature

Technical understanding of the electronic signature

You have received an electronic document processed with inSign containing digital signatures? Please find here everything you need to know.

Are the digital signatures legally binding?

inSign signatures correspond to the so-called “advanced electronic signature”, AES, under European eIDAS regulation. All biometric data contained in the document verify whether a certain person has provided a certain signature.

How can I find out who really signed?

Simply, just as you would with ink-on-paper. A handwriting expert analyses the digital signature’s metadata to authenticate the signer. The digital signature process is based on asymmetrical encryption. Decryption, if necessary, is carried out by a notary. The proof of any legal transaction of both paper and digital signatures are only carried out by court in the event of a legal dispute.

How do I recognize if my document has been tampered with?

Opening your document using a corresponding application (e.g. Adobe Acrobat Reader), various metadata in addition to the actual content can be viewed. Please ensure that the document and all revisions have been signed with a certificate. This verifies that the document’s contents have not been subsequently modified.

If your document has been tampered with after signing, it gets marked by a red X and the following message
“The signature is not valid. After signing the document has been altered or tampered with.”

How to recognize a genuine inSign document?

It depends how you open your PDF document.

Adobe Reader

Open your document in Adobe Reader. Click the signature field, then “Signature properties” followed by “Display signatory’s certificate”. The “Summary” tab should display any of the following certificates:

Foxit Reader

If you use “Foxit Reader”, you can proceed in the same way as you would using Adobe. Click the signature field, then “Signature properties” followed by “View certificate”.

Nitro

In Nitro the certificate can be viewed by clicking the signature field, selecting signature properties and clicking “View certificate”.

Browserviewer

Unfortunately, the Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Safari browser viewers cannot display any certificate information. Therefore, it cannot be verified if the document is a genuine inSign document.

Please note: All documents containing certificates issued before 06/12/2019 are labelled with the status “UNKNOWN”. All documents containing certificates issued after 06/12/2019 are labelled with the status “VALID”. This is due to the fact that technical signatures were historically carried out by www.is2.de. The new certificate is based on a ROOT certificate which is listed on EUTL (European Trust List). In both cases biometric data are correctly stored in the PDF document.

What are the advantages of digitally signed documents?

A document containing digital signatures will be existing in its original quality in years to come. Ink-on-paper signatures, however, fade over time. This makes it nearly impossible to provide evidential value by subsequent digitization of the signature, i. e. by scanning and destroying the original.