What is the difference between Electronic and Digital Signature?

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What is the difference between Electronic and Digital Signature?

Any amateur without proper knowledge about the digital world will often confuse electronic and digital signatures with being the same and often use the terms interchangeably.

But there are significant differences between the two! The main difference between the two is that the digital signature is used for securing the documents and is authorized by the certificate authorities as secure and verified, whereas electronic signatures are where there is a contract where the one who signs has an intention to do the same.

Digital signatures are actually a type of electronic signature with a significant difference i.e. providing more security than a traditional electronic signature.

Before understanding the differences let us first brush up our knowledge about digital and electronic signatures.

Electronic Signature –

With electronic signatures, any business/vendor can perform the following tasks –

Verification of the identity of the signer can be done
The retention and storing of completed documents can be done easily
The association of the signer can be done with the signing process
The binding signature can be safely captured

These reasons were very important in helping Electronic signatures gain popularity.

Electronic Signatures were also popular due to their ease of operation i.e. they can be easily signed online just by few mouse clicks, which is a very easy task for any person operating a system. The main reason for their declining popularity and trust was due to the lack of security provided by them.

The electronic signatures are a substitute for handwritten signature in a business process.

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