Digital signature: what it is, how to purchase it and advantages
Some years ago, especially after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the year 2020, society needed to familiarize itself with a technology that would quickly become part of our routines, such as sending an email, making a video call, and even accessing social networks: the electronic signature, or, as it is commonly called, digital signature.
Abruptly inserted in a context of virtual relationships and businesses, warning comments such as “we need to hire a digital signature platform!” or curious questions like “have you ever used a digital signature?” were heard in droves at virtual corporate meetings. This caused a stir in the routine of companies, which were forced to adapt their processes to a remote reality. Not to mention the law firms, which were flooded with urgent inquiries containing the classic question: “does a digital signature have legal validity?”.
Well, it's 2023 and signing documents on paper, sending contracts for mailing services, and even managing dusty files and closets already seem like difficult tasks to recall in memory.
But have you ever stopped to think What is a digital signature?
What is a digital signature?
To answer that question, let's first quickly exercise the dynamics of a written signature.
Assuming that you decided to rent a new apartment and, after months of research and countless visits, you finally found a perfect property to live in. Thus, after negotiating the price and other rental conditions, the long-awaited time to sign the real estate contract arrived.
You then receive the printed draft of the document, handle the pen and make a signature that only you know how to make. Thus, through this written signature, you expressed your willingness to agree to all the rights and obligations provided for in this contract and, consequently, to rent the property.
Well, the digital signature, like the written signature, is a way of recording your expression of will. She is a electronic registration agile, secure and auditable, which allows us to identify and attest to Authorship of the demonstration and, in addition, guarantees that the content of the signed document Don't be modified after the subscriptions are finalized.
How do I digitally sign a document?
To better understand, let's exercise the dynamics of a digital signature.
Also assuming that you decided to rent a new apartment, but now you have chosen a modern and agile real estate agency, which carries out the entire process of negotiating and signing the contract digitally through the Clicksign Platform.
After the negotiation, the real estate company must send the contract for signature through the platform. The responsible person will upload the document to Clicksign, enter their personal identification data and choose the authentication methods that you must complete during the subscription process.
Authentication methods are the ways provided by electronic signature platforms for a person to authenticate within a signature process, that is, for a person to perform a digital signature.
The method may be simpler, such as a token via email, or more secure and sophisticated, such as Facial Biometrics and PIX. The more forms you select, the more secure your subscriptions will be.
Once this quick process is done, you will receive a link by mail or WhatsApp and, after viewing the contract, you must confirm your personal identification data and perform pre-defined authentication.
For example, if the real estate agency chooses the token method via email, you will receive a code in your email and you must enter it on the platform to complete the process. Now, if the real estate company chooses the Facial Biometry method, you must perform biometric authentication of your face on the Clicksign Platform itself.
So, after receiving the contract link, view the document, confirm your details and perform the authentication, that's it! You have taken out a digital subscription!
Does a digital signature have legal validity?
Digital signatures are fully valid and accepted on any type of document.
It is important to say that digital signature and electronic signature are synonyms, this is because there is no legal provision that qualifies or differentiates them as different subscription types. It is enough to carry out a quick consultation of the legal regulations that regulate or only cite this technology, such as Provisional Measure No. 2,200-2/2001, Law 14,063/2020, or even the Civil Code and the Code of Civil Procedure, to verify that the legislator can use both terms to refer to the same technology.
That is, regardless of whether the legislator uses the term “electronic signature” or “digital signature”, know that he is using one of these words to refer to a electronic record that allows identifying and certifying the authorship of the expression of wishes.
What there is, in fact, is a classification of digital - or electronic - signature in three different types.
As you just read, there are several ways to authenticate a signer (the person who signs) within an electronic signature process. With these variables in mind, Brazilian legislation classified them into three distinct species:
The electronic signature qualified It is the one that uses an ICP-Brazil Digital Certificate* as an authentication method.
ICP-Brazil is the Brazilian Public Key Infrastructure, which represents the country's digital certification system and enables the issuance of digital certificates used for the virtual identification of citizens. These certificates can be purchased through a Certification Authority, that is, a digital certificate issuer.
The electronic signature, on the other hand. advanced is one that uses other certificates not issued by ICP-Brazil or even other means of proving the authorship and integrity of electronic documents, offering a high level of security and guaranteeing the identification of the signer in a unique manner.
Finally, the electronic signature unsophisticated It is the one that, as its name says, offers the simplest form of authenticating the signer, using less refined forms of identifying the signer, such as through an email or even the IP address of the device used at the time of authentication.
But, after all, which subscription to subscribe to?
As a general rule, any document can be signed with any type of electronic signature, as long as there is no legal provision requiring the use of a specific type of electronic signature, not least because Brazilian legislation has not established a hierarchy between the different types of digital signatures, leaving the parties to decide the most appropriate option for the situation and the document they are signing.
However, there are situations in which the legislation requires the use of a specific type of digital signature to sign certain documents.
For example, when signing acts of transfer and registration of immovable property, an electronic signature must be used qualified Or the advanced, as defined by law.
As a rule, such documents require the use of a qualified signature, however, if we are faced with a private instrument for the purchase and sale of property as a public title, an advanced electronic signature may also be used, as in the hypothesis created by Law No. 14,620/2023, which provides for the My House, My Life Program and related matters.
But that's not the only example.
When we observe the legislation applicable to public records (the notary offices), we found that there are several regulatory acts, at the federal and state levels, providing for the mandatory use of qualified electronic signature.
It should be noted that the legislation applicable to notary offices is complex and uneven, since the Internal Affairs Office — at the federal level — and the State Internal Affairs Offices — at the state level — have powers to regulate, among other matters, the use of electronic signatures in electronic documents to be received by public records.
As an example, when we observe the rules applicable to public records in the State of São Paulo, it is possible to observe that documents such as the records and amendments of constituent acts, or the Minutes of meetings of legal entities, which must be submitted to the civil registry office of legal entities, among other technical requirements, must have a qualified electronic signature.
This is just one example, since the same situation may occur in other Brazilian States, and the applicable legislation must always be consulted for the desired registration.
Therefore, it is always recommended to consult the legislation applicable to the type of document you are signing, to find out if a specific type of digital signature should be used.
What are the advantages of using a digital signature?
It is possible to address several aspects when dealing with the advantages of using electronic signatures, such as the reduction of costs and expenses with the storage and management of physical documents, the purchase of paper, expenses with printers, reduction of time and logistics costs with transporting documents for signature, not to mention the reduction of environmental impact and the occupation of physical spaces.
However, let's talk about legal aspects of digital signatures, which also bring advantages to those who use this technology.
Exemption from the signature of two witnesses on extrajudicial executive titles
This is a great innovation also brought about by Law No. 14,620/2023, which, when updating the Code of Civil Procedure, dispensed with the signature of the two witnesses on digitally signed executive titles.
In other words, when electronically signing extrajudicial executive orders, such as credit securities - bills of exchange, promissory notes and duplicates, it is no longer necessary to collect the signatures of two witnesses other than the contracting parties.
This innovation demonstrates a significant evolution of legislation regarding digital signature technology.
This is because the requirement for two witnesses stems from a logic analogous to written signatures, which considers the presence of two witnesses, among other factors, an element of security to attest to the integrity of the signed document.
However, it doesn't make sense to carry analog logic into the electronic signature environment. This issue can be addressed in several aspects, such as the lack of rubrics, the placement of signatures and, undoubtedly, the absence of two witnesses.
This is because the signature of two witnesses has no impact on the security and integrity of the electronically signed document, which is the main reason for the existence of this requirement when considering an analogical reality of written signatures.
Which brings us to the last subject of this article:
The security and guarantee of integrity of electronically signed documents
You may have heard that digital signatures, in addition to being agile and practical, are more secure than written signatures. But have you ever stopped to think about the reasons?
Let's see. When talking about the security of electronically signed documents, we observed that digital signature technology provides levels of security, reliability, and verification unthinkable for the analog reality of written signatures.
This issue lies in the three security factors that make up electronic signature technology and are essential for its operation. They are:
It is worth noting that each platform has its own specifications and peculiarities when ensuring the verification of such factors, not least because there is no single correct way to guarantee them.
Let's start with authenticity of the signer. It is demonstrated through the different authentication methods offered by the platforms. The choice of methods depends on the user who owns the document, who will define the security level of authenticating the signers.
The second safety factor is the form in which the liaison between the signer and the document. There is no single correct way to demonstrate this link, but at Clicksign all signed documents have a complete history of signatures, which is Log do Document.
It is in the Log that the entire authentication process of the signers is recorded in detail, containing information such as identification data, IP address of the device used at the time of authentication, date and time of the respective authentications, in addition to the authentication methods that were selected by the user who owned the document and carried out by the signers.
In this way, the platform issues a record that works as a link between the document and the signers, with the purpose of proving that the electronic signatures of that specific document are legally valid.
Finally, we have the integrity. Again, there is no single correct and effective way to guarantee that no changes were made to the document after the signing process was finalized. Clicksign, for example, uses two security factors to ensure integrity.
Every document signed on Clicksign has a Hash Code, a high-security technology, a mathematical calculation, used to encrypt the original signed document. Thus, every signed document has a unique code that guarantees that no change has been made to its content after the signers signed the document.
In addition to the inclusion of the code, every document signed on the platform contains the Clicksign Digital Certificate, which indicates, in an auditable way, that the document was signed on the platform, and it is also possible to include authentication with a Time Stamp, a choice that is at the discretion of the user who owns the document.
Start digitally signing
Clicksign is the first electronic signature company in Brazil. Our solutions are ideal for those who want to reduce costs and streamline processes. Because, from any location, through a device with internet access, it is possible to subscribe in less than 1 minute.
Through our platform, you can sign documents with any type of electronic signature required by law, according to the needs of the clients. Because we use the most advanced technologies to provide greater security and legal validity to signed documents.
Do you want to understand how Clicksign can help you? Try it free for 14 days!
