In the digital era, with the exchange of electronic documents and digital signature occurring everywhere, information security has become a constant concern. In this context, the digital authentication Document Management provides a robust layer of security for electronic communications.
After all, unprotected electronic documents are susceptible to tampering and malicious interception, threatening the confidentiality and integrity of the most sensitive data.
In this article, we will present a practical guide on how to perform effective digital authentication. We will not only address the importance of this process, but also the risks associated with the transmission of digital documents without proper authentication.
By understanding the challenges faced in the virtual environment, it becomes clear how digital authentication acts as a virtual shield, mitigating risks and ensuring the legitimacy of documents in an increasingly interconnected world.
What is digital document authentication?
Digital document authentication consists of a process cybersecurity system, designed to verify the identity of users, systems or documents in the digital environment. Using advanced cryptographic techniques to validate and ensure the legitimacy of electronic transactions, this method has been revolutionizing the document management.
At its core, digital authentication employs algorithms and cryptographic keys to ensure that the person, device or content in question is truly who or what they claim to be. This not only confirms authenticity, but also protects against unauthorized changes, ensuring the integrity of transmitted data.
Digital authentication plays an important role in various contexts, from online financial transactions to electronic signatures on contracts, to protecting systems and networks.
Its application is essential to mitigate risks associated with the exchange of sensitive information in the digital age, providing a robust layer of security in an increasingly connected world.
The importance of digital authentication
Digital authentication plays an essential role in ensuring legal security in legal procedures, providing an additional layer of reliability and integrity to electronic documents used in the legal sphere and optimizing the business management. Some of the fundamental reasons for the importance of digital authentication in this context are:
Document integrity
Digital authentication protects the integrity of legal documents, ensuring that they have not been altered or manipulated in an unauthorized way. The use of digital signatures and cryptographic certificates ensures that the content of the document remains intact from its creation until its presentation in legal proceedings.
Counterfeit protection
Digital authentication significantly complicates attempts to falsify legal documents. Digital signatures, for example, are based on complex cryptographic algorithms that are extremely difficult to reproduce or forge, providing a high level of confidence in the authenticity of signatures.
Agility and efficiency
The use of digital authentication speeds up legal processes, eliminating the need for physical documents and associated bureaucratic procedures. Digital signatures and certificates facilitate the remote signing and validation of documents, saving time and resources, which is particularly relevant in legal proceedings that require speed.
Traceability and audit
Digital authentication allows you to track all interactions with a document, identifying who signed, when and in what context. This contributes to the transparency and traceability of legal processes, being valuable in situations where it is necessary to review the history of a document.
Legal validity
In many jurisdictions, digital authentication has the same legal validity as a handwritten signature, as long as it is carried out in accordance with specific rules and regulations. This gives the parties involved a solid legal basis for using digitally authenticated documents in legal proceedings.
The authentication trifactor
Three-factor authentication is a security approach that involves combining three distinct factors to verify a user's identity. Below we point out what they are.
Knowledge
Refers to something the user knows, usually secret information known only to the user. Entering a personal password to access a particular system or account is the most common form of knowledge-based authentication. Another good example is the PIN, which, similar to a password, is a numeric code known only to the user.
Posse
This factor involves some specific device, which the user physically possesses. The best-known examples are the security token – a physical device that generates temporary or unique codes, usually in sync with the system to be accessed – and the smart card, which contains an electronic chip that stores authentication information. .
Feature
It refers to something that is inherent to the user, usually a unique biometric characteristic. The best-known examples include fingerprint and facial recognition identification.
The combination of these three factors, known as multi-factor authentication (AMF or MFA), provides an additional layer of security, as an attacker would have to overcome multiple obstacles to gain unauthorized access.
The four main digital authentication schemes
There are four main digital authentication schemes, with different applications for different contexts – with the choice usually determined by specific security requirements and the nature of the operations in question.
1. Local digital authentication scheme
In this model, identity verification occurs exclusively on a specific system or device, suitable for individual environments or small-scale networks where centralization is not critical.
2. Centralized digital authentication scheme
Unlike the local scheme, this model involves a central server that manages and validates user identities, making it especially effective in organizational environments for consolidated access control.
3. Centralized global digital authentication scheme
Expanding centralization to a global scale, this scheme is common in online services and large platforms, requiring robust security measures to manage identities on a broader scale.
4. Global Digital Authentication Scheme with Web Application
Combining global centralization with the convenience of web interfaces, this model is prevalent in online services and browser-accessible platforms, providing an enhanced user experience while maintaining centralized security.
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Types of digital authentication
Various digital authentication methods are employed to verify the identity of users. Below are some of the main ones:
Password
The most traditional method involves inserting an alphanumeric sequence known to the user.
Token
Uses a physical device or application to generate temporary codes, often used in conjunction with a password.
Sends a verification code or confirmation link to the user's email address to confirm their identity.
SMS
Similar to the previous one, an authentication code is sent via text message to the user's phone number.
Public and private keys
It uses a pair of keys, one public and one private, to authenticate and encrypt communications. It is through this method that digital certificates work.
Biometry
It uses unique physical or behavioral characteristics of the user, such as fingerprints, facial recognition, or iris. It is widely used to unlock smartphones and access bank details.
Others
There are several other types of digital authentication, such as smart cards, voice recognition, geolocation, and – of course – digital signatures, and it is even quite common for many authentication systems to combine more than one of these modalities, in order to reinforce their security.
Practical applications of digital authentication
Digital authentication has a wide variety of practical applications, playing a key role in security and efficiency in business and personal environments.
Various types of documents can be digitally authenticated: By integrating digital authentication across multiple areas, organizations and individuals can benefit from enhanced security, operational efficiency, and convenience in managing documents and transactions. Below, we highlight some of the most common applications.
Access to corporate systems and networks
User authentication for access to corporate systems and networks, ensuring that only authorized people can enter protected environments.
Online financial transactions
Authentication in banking services and financial platforms, ensuring the protection of transactions and sensitive information.
Electronic signatures on contracts
Use of digital signatures to authenticate contracts and legal documents, streamlining processes and reducing the need for paper.
Issuance of official digital documents
Digital certification of official documents, such as certificates, diplomas and records, providing a secure way of electronic sharing.
Logins to applications and online platforms
Authentication in applications and online services, ensuring the security of personal and professional accounts.
Access control to physical and virtual environments
Using authentication systems, such as smart cards or biometrics, to control access to physical buildings or virtual environments.
In this sense, it is worth highlighting that the number of types of documents that can be digitally authenticated is vast: digital versions of contracts, agreements, invoices, tax documents, digital certificates, identification documents, medical records, authorizations, among many others.
Legal validity
The legal validity of digitally authenticated documents is recognized in many jurisdictions around the world, supported by specific legislation that gives legal value to digital signatures and certificates.
In several countries, the adoption of public and private key infrastructures, combined with laws that recognize the equivalence between digital signatures and their handwritten counterparts, contributes to the legal acceptance of these documents.
In Brazil, for example, Law No. 14.063/2020 recognizes the electronic signature and the digital signature as valid for all public and private documents, equivalent to the physical signature. This legal recognition reinforces the acceptance and reliability of digitally authenticated documents in various legal spheres.
In this context, ZapSign's digital signature platform offers a robust and secure solution for electronic document authentication, ensuring compliance with relevant regulations.
Click here to learn more about the ease and effectiveness of ZapSign and speed up your digital signature processes!
