Originally published in nCipher website www.ncipher.com 

A few years ago, the BBC reported that the power of the traditional hand-written signature was under threat from its digital counterpart. While it may have taken some time, the increasing adoption of digital services – from banking and financial transactions in the private sector, to taxes and healthcare in the public – has led to a significant rise in the use of electronic signatures.

This article discusses the benefits eIDs provide for both banks and customers in streamlining cross-border transactions and what is required under eIDAS for identity verification and client onboarding.

With the introduction of PSD2, banks are forced to provide third party payment service providers (PSPs) with access to the bank’s customers’ account information for account servicing and payment initiation services, but only in the case where the user has granted access to these third-party players. This article explores a technical solution that leverages eIDAS to address the PSD2 requirements.

The following content is an introduction to trust services and remote Qualified Electronic Signatures (QES) according to the eIDAS regulation and standards. This article is aimed at highlighting what a trust service provider (TSP) is and the valuable benefits of remote QES and other trust services.

Ensuring that the integrity of an e-signature remains intact is crucial to protecting its attached messages or documents. This article will explain three types of e-signature validation attacks and how they can be avoided by adopting the standards for e-signatures under eIDAS.

The world is slowly but surely moving away from its centuries-old obsession with paper. With the very real threat of man-made climate change, it is a welcome sign that the world is moving towards electronic means for recording and communicating information which is reducing the pressure on our forests. In addition to the trees saved, this also reduces the carbon impact of having to physically ship those documents around – usually via the least carbon-efficient modes like airplanes.

With support for signing XML documents in its WYSIWYS solution, Cryptomathic now provides the means to offer the much desired What You See Is What You Sign (WYSIWYS) feature for both PDF documents and XML files. With WYSIWYS, it is possible to demonstrate that signatory’s intent was provided for, with a well-specified UI, thereby strengthening non-repudiation of online transfers or other signature operations. The new feature is now available as part of the latest Cryptomathic Signer product version, released in November 2018.

In a recent article, we looked at how eIDAS can help SMEs grow and prosper. SMEs are undoubtedly the lifeblood of any economy which means that EU initiatives must cater to their specific needs. The previous article looked at how eIDAS can address the security needs of SMEs while reducing their regulatory burden and allowing them to focus on their core competencies.

However, SMEs have a unique set of challenges as well. Today, we look at some of the challenges unique to SMEs and how those challenges may be overcome to ensure that SMEs can benefit from eIDAS enabled tools to the maximum extent possible.

What You See Is What You Sign (WYSIWYS) refers to the part of any signature process, where you read a document you intend to sign, and ensure that you only sign it once you know it is the right document and agree with its terms. When you read something in your web browser, how can you be sure that the text you read is genuine, from the right source, and agree on the content it displays?