Digital PDF signatures

[shane_c]

We are in the process of switching all of our forms at work to form fillable and adding a submit (by email) button.

I'm wondering how secure digital pdf signatures are? A lot of the forms might be coming from people we don't know (i.e. reference letters) so is there a way to tell it actually came from that person and not the potential student? How exactly do they work?

[Rathji]

Digital signatures should work, according to some research I did earlier in the year. No hands on experience with them though.

http://www.adobe.com/security/digsig.html

With powerful encryption technology and public key infrastructure (PKI) support, Adobe digital signature solutions enable enterprises to exchange documents electronically with:

Assurance that the information has not been altered since it was sent
Verification of the signer's digital identity
In partnership with leading security vendors, including RSA, Entrust, VeriSign, GeoTrust, and ActivCard, Adobe Document Services provide enterprise solutions that instill trust in electronic documents while protecting brand integrity.

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

Not sure if you can verify it without having an original, but maybe I am misunderstanding.

I am not familiar with them but i know there are a few platforms out there. Saw these guys recently https://rightsignature.com

[fredr123]

http://www.pdfforlawyers.com/2012/06...rime-time.html

Some scepticism on the utility of not-yet-ready-for-prime-time true digital signatures in Adobe Acrobat.

[Mike F]

Here in BC, our law society created its own digital signature program to work in conjunction with acrobat so we could electronically sign documents. They've deemed it secure enough to mandate that almost all land transfer documents be submitted electronically now.

So, that may not be much help if you're set on using a digital signature created by acrobat, but the technology in general seems to be proven.