Welcome! Not a Member? Click here to Join Now!
Log in
Forgot Password?

Home

Books

Calculators

Tell a Friend

Submit Essays

Rate Professors

Games

This free essay has been submitted by: Guest User

Digital Signatures

Total words: 301
A digital signature is an electronic signature that can be used to authenticate the identity of the sender of a message or the signer of a document, and possibly to ensure that the original content of the message or document that has been sent is unchanged [3]. Digital signatures are easily transportable, cannot be imitated by someone else, and can be automatically time-stamped. The ability to ensure that the original signed message arrived means that the sender cannot easily repudiate it later.

Testing strategies for electronic money build on the legal requirements of traditional contracts. Electronic and paper-based contracts have common elements, the most important of which is the signature requirement. For an electronic signature to be legally binding in a court, someone must be able to verify that the signature actually belongs to whoever sent the data and that the data were not altered after being signed [4].

A signature is a mark, including an electronic mark, made with the intention of authenticating a document. A digital signature fulfills several roles, and each of these roles support test cases. A digital mark assures integrity of communication by verifying that the document has not been altered and that the signer really exists. Therefore, the digital signature meets the following four traditional requirements:
1. It is unable to be forged
2. It can be authenticated
3. It is unalterable
4. It is nonreuseable.

The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act of 2000 have given digital signatures the same legal status as those written on ink or paper [4]. Digital signatures use the private key/public key cryptography encryption process. Once encrypted, you can only read the message if you have a matching decryption key. Typically, the public key is widely published so that anyone can encrypt messages using it. The private key that performs decryption is kept secret.

Be the first one to review this free Essay

Sticky Note Text....

27 users online