Helpful Summary
- Overview: We explain how verifying e-signatures ensures the integrity, authenticity, and legal compliance of documents and explain five methods for doing so.
- Why listen to us: We’re a leading e-signature tool that’s trusted by more than 61,000 businesses globally thanks to powerful security features and a best-in-class e-signing workflow.
- Why it matters: Verifying e-signatures builds trust in digital transactions, ensures documents haven’t been altered, and meets legal standards.
- Action points: Utilize digital certificates, check signatory identity, and use technologies like Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) to ensure e-signatures are genuine and documents remain unchanged.
- Further research: Continue learning about digital signature technologies and keep updated with security advancements to protect your e-signatures against emerging threats.
Wondering How to Verify E-Signatures?
When running a business, time and security are your most valuable assets. Electronic signatures help with both—but in order to balance these two aspects, you need to know how (and when) to verify e-signatures.
With the volume of global digital fraud attempts surging by 80% from 2019 to 2022, ensuring the authenticity of an e-signature is crucial. And in this SignWell guide, we’re introducing five powerful methods for verifying e-signatures.
But first…
Why Listen to Us?
Verifying e-signatures is critical if you want to protect your business from fraud. At SignWell, we’ve helped over 61,000 businesses implement secure, verifiable e-signature workflows. Our platform ensures each signature is valid, using advanced encryption and compliance with major regulations like ESIGN and eIDAS.
What is Electronic Signature Verification?
Electronic signature verification is the process of checking if an e-signature is genuine and valid. It’s like checking the ID of someone who signs a contract. Just because it’s digital doesn’t mean it’s less real or legally binding.
E-signature verification ensures that the signature is provided by the signee named on the document, collecting data such as date, time, location, and IP address at the time of signing. It can also use encryption and public and private keys to decrypt and verify the data.
But more on that in a moment…
5 Ways to Verify an E-Signature
1. Check the Audit Trail
The easiest way to verify an e-signature? Check the audit trail.
This is a detailed report that records the who, what, when, and where of a signature. It shows all the actions taken during the signing process, including any changes or modifications made to the document.
Almost every e-signing tool and platform offers this feature. For example, SignWell’s audit reports cover:
- IP addresses
- Names
- Emails
- Timestamps (for access and signature)
- Document changes
Verifying the audit report’s data will give you an initial idea of whether the e-signature is legit or not.
2. Verify the Signer’s Identity
Another method (that’s a bit more involved) is to verify the signer’s identity prior to signing the document. This is a requirement for certain types of e-signatures (like AES and QES), and some e-signing tools have features to facilitate these checks.
There are a few different ways to go about this, including:
- Knowledge-based checks (e.g., “What was your high school mascot?”)
- Government-issued ID verification
- Email and SMS verification
3. Use Public/Private Keys & Digital Certificates
Public and private keys are long, randomly generated strings of numbers that are used to encrypt and decrypt documents. Digital certificates are documents (issued by Certificate Authorities) that prove you’re the owner of a public or private key.
How is this relevant to e-signature verification?
Check out our guide to digital signature validation for a more comprehensive look, but here’s a quick overview:
- Signers verify their identity with the Certificate Authority.
- The Certificate Authority then generates a digital certificate and set of keys.
- The private key creates a signature that can only be decrypted using the public key.
- The recipient uses the public key to verify the authenticity and integrity of the signature.
It’s a highly secure method that’s great for highly sensitive signatures.
4. Review the Signer’s Intent
Intent to sign is an important part of the validity of an e-signature. If someone didn’t explicitly agree to e-sign a document, they can make the case that their signature isn’t valid. So, if you want to verify that a signature is valid, make sure you get (and record) consent.
This can be as simple as:
- Using a clickwrap agreement to capture the signer’s intent
- Requesting formal written consent to use e-signatures before signing
- Retroactively asking for consent from the signer
5. Use Trusted E-Signature Platforms
The last method? Use a trusted e-signing platform that’s able to collect legally binding signatures in the country(s) or state(s) where you (and the signer) are located.
SignWell is a great example.
We comply with U.S. and international e-signing laws like ESIGN, UETA, eIDAS, HIPAA, GDPR, and more. We also offer tons of built-in security features that boost the legitimacy and weight of the signatures you collect, including:
- Encryption (at rest and in transit)
- Audit trails
- Digital signatures
Conclusion
Verifying e-signatures might seem like one more thing on your plate, but it’s easier than you think—especially with the right tools.
Here are the key takeaways:
- Verifying e-signatures adds a level of security and legitimacy to your digital documents.
- Use reliable tools like SignWell to make verification a breeze.
Thinking about trying e-signatures but worried about the technical stuff? SignWell offers an easy-to-use platform that takes the complexity out of e-signatures.
Try SignWell for free and see how simple it is to keep your e-signatures secure.
