Trust infrastructure
Electronic signatures have the potential to provide proof that a specific document was signed by a specific person at a specific time (authenticity) and has remained unchanged since then (integrity).
While the integrity of an electronic signature can be verified effectively using current technical standards, proving its authenticity and the time at which it was signed is considerably more complex. Although a signed document does indicate who is supposed to have signed it and when, the document itself does not, on its own, provide proof that this information is in fact accurate.
Trust in the certification service is therefore crucial. Only if this is trusted can the information contained in the certificate be considered reliable. Although it is theoretically possible to assess trustworthiness on a case-by-case basis, in practice this procedure is neither efficient nor can it be automated.
To address this issue, Parliament has laid down a regulatory framework in the form of the ESigA – and, within the EU, the eIDAS Regulation has been introduced. This provides a comprehensive trust infrastructure within which electronic signatures can be verified automatically and with a high degree of reliability.