Digital Signature, Electronic Signature & Authentication of Electronic Records

Last Updated : 28 Mar, 2024

Digital contracts have increased owing to several dynamic variables, including technical advancements and globalization. These reasons have accelerated the rising trend of digitalizing commercial business structures and transactions. As a result, the number of digital contracts and electronic records has increased dramatically. E-commerce enterprises use digital contracts to conduct and finalize transactions online. Even in India, the reliance on digital contracts and electronic records is very high.

Geeky Takeaways:

Digital signatures and electronic records are an ideal technique to transition to e-government.
To execute the digital agreements and give them legal impact under Indian contract rules, the parties to the transaction must declare their permission by digital signature.
The regulatory framework has implemented the digital signature setup to ensure time savings and transparency.
It ensures that the original data is not altered throughout the transit from sender to recipient.
The rules and regulations of the Information Technology Act 2000 have their foundation in the UNCITRAL Model Law on E-Commerce.

Table of Content

What is Digital Signature?
What is Electronic Signature?
Authentication of Electronic Records: Section 3
Conclusion
Digital Signature, Electronic Signature & Authentication of Electronic Records- FAQs

What is Digital Signature?

According to Section 2(1)(p), digital signature means ‘authentication of any electronic record using an electronic method or procedure in accordance with the provisions of Section 3.

According to the Information Technology Act 2000, digital signatures are defined as the authentication of any electronic record by a subscriber using an electronic technique or procedure in compliance with section 3. Furthermore, Sections 2, 3, and 15 of the Information Technology Act 2000 address digital signatures.

A digital signature is an electronic signature used to protect an electronic document or digital contract. Like a traditional signature, its function is to authenticate the document and hence the participants to an agreement. It ensures that the original data is not altered throughout the transit from sender to recipient. It has also become necessary to authenticate users often in order to maintain safety and avoid fraud; Digital Signatures cannot be reproduced by anyone else, therefore providing protection.

What is Electronic Signature?

According to Section 2(1)(ta) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 “Electronic signature means the authentication of any electronic record by a subscriber by means of the electronic technique as specified under the second schedule and also includes a digital signature.”

Electronic signatures are electronic representations of an individual’s identity that serve as proof of permission and acquiescence to the facts of the provided signature. Overall, it is a confirmation from the signatory that he agrees to the written format of the same electronically. It is critical to check that it is signed by the authorized signatory and that the document has not been modified.

Authentication of Electronic Records: Section 3

Electronic records have the benefit of being reusable, easily modifies or create a new record from an existing one. The digital advantage may also be a risk as changes may not be visible right once. This raises concerns about the dependability of electronic records. Furthermore, authentication is a procedure that confirms a person’s identity or proves the integrity of information. Authenticating communications entails ascertaining the source of the message and ensuring that it has not been altered or modified in transit. The authenticity of an electronic record is achieved by producing a digital signature, which is a mathematical function of the content of the message. Cryptography, a discipline of applied mathematics, is responsible for creating and verifying such signatures. It is used to protect the secrecy and authenticity of data by replacing it with a modified version that can be reconverted to disclose the original data only to those with the correct key. A key is a set of symbols that governs the behavior of a cryptographic transformation. It consists of two processes, which are described below:

Encryption is the process of changing a plain communication into a cipher text.
Decryption is the process of reversing Cipher text to reveal the original message.

Section 3 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 outlines provisions for authenticating electronic records. Provisions are as follows:

Subject to the rules of the mentioned section, any subscriber can use his digital signature in order to authenticate an electronic record.
An asymmetric crypto system and hash function encrypt and change the initial electronic record into another record, as a result the record’s authenticity is affected.
Furthermore, any individual in possession of the public key may validate the electronic record.
Furthermore, each subscriber has a private key and a public key that are unique to him and form a working key pair.

Conclusion

With the progress of technology, the use of digital signatures instead of traditional signatures has grown significantly. The Information Technology Act of 2000 goes into great detail on the idea of digital signatures, the authorities who have been given the authority to issue digital signature certificates, and the circumstances that necessitate the affixation of the digital signature.