What is the difference between digital signatures and electronic signatures?
Digital signatures are based on Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and are a result of a cryptographic operation that guarantees signer authenticity, data integrity and non-repudiation of signed documents. The digital signature cannot be copied, tampered or altered. In addition, because they are based on standard PKI technology, signatures made within one application (e.g. Microsoft Word, Adobe PDF) can be validated by others using the same applications. On the other hand, an electronic signature is a proprietary format (there is no standard for electronic signatures) that is an electronic data, such as a digitized image of a handwritten signature, a symbol, voiceprint, etc., that identifies the author(s) of an electronic message. Electronic signatures are vulnerable to copying and tampering, making forgery easy. In many cases, they are not legally binding and will require proprietary software to validate the signature.
Digital signatures, often referred to as advanced or standard electronic signatures are a sub group with electronic signatures which provide the highest form of signature and content integrity as well as universal acceptance. Digital signaturesare based on Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and are a result of a cryptographic operation that guarantees signer authenticity, data integrity and non-repudiation of signed documents. The digital signature cannot be copied, tampered or altered. In addition, because they are based on standard PKI technology, signatures made within one application (e.g. Microsoft Word, Adobe PDF) can be validated by others using the same applications. On the other hand, an electronic signature is a proprietary format (there is no standard for electronic signatures) that is an electronic data, such as a digitized image of a handwritten signature, a symbol, voiceprint, etc., that identifies the author(s) of an electronic message. Electronic signatures are vulnerable
