eSign Electronic Signature Service is an innovative initiative for allowing easy, efficient, and secure signing of electronic documents by authenticating signer using UIDAI e-KYC services. With this service, any eSign use rcan digitally sign an electronic document without having to obtain a physical digital signature dongle. .Application Service Providers can integrate this service within their application to offer eSign user a way to sign electronic forms and documents. The need to obtain Digital Signature Certificate through a printed paper application form with ink signature and supporting documents will not be required.
The Digital Signature Certificate issuance and applying of signature to electronic content is carried out in few seconds with eSign. Through the interface provided by the Application Service Provider (ASP), users can apply electronic signature on any electronic content by authenticating themselves through biometric or OTP using UIDAI e-KYC services. The interfaces are provided to users on a variety of devices such as computer, mobile phone etc. At the backend, eSign service provider facilitates key pair generation and Certifying Authority issues a Digital Signature Certificate. The eSign Service Provider facilitates creation of the Digital Signature of the user for the document which will be applied to the document on acceptance by the user.
eSign Online electronic signature service,offers applications a mechanism to replace manual paper based signatures by integrating this service within their applications. .An eSign user can electronically sign a form/document anytime, anywhere, and on any device. eSign service facilitates significant reduction in paper handling costs, improves efficiency, and offers convenience to customers.
Yes. The Electronic Signatures facilitated through eSign Online Electronic Signature Service are legally valid provided the eSign signature framework is operated under the provisions of Second Schedule of the Information Technology Act and Guidelines issued by the Controller. Please refer Electronic Signature or Electronic Authentication Technique and Procedure Rules, 2015 -e-authentication technique using e-KYC services.
An Application Service Provider (ASP) can integrate eSign online electronic signature service so that the users of that ASP will be able to use eSign. A physical paper form/document which is currently used to obtain digital signature certificate can be replaced by its electronic form and thereby facilitate electronic signature of the signer through eSign.
ASPs who can be potential users of eSign include Government agencies, Banks and Financial Institutions, Educational Institutions etc.
In the traditional Digital Signature system, an individual is responsible for applying for a Digital Signature Certificate to CA, key pair generation and safe custody of keys. The Certifying Authorities issue Digital Signature Certificate to individuals after verification of credentials submitted in the application form. Such Digital Signature Certificates are valid for 2-3 years. Individual can affix digital signature any time during the validity of Digital Signature Certificate. The certificates are revoked in case of loss or compromise of keys. The verification of the individual’s signature requires the verification of whether the DSC is issued under India PKI and also ascertaining the revocation status of the DSC. Key pairs are stored in Crypto Tokens which comply with standards mentioned in the Information Technology Act & Rules to prevent the duplication of keys. It is individual’s obligation for safe custody of Crypto-Tokens. The signatures are created using the keys certified by CA.
In the new eSign online Electronic Signature Service, based on successful authentication of individual using e-KYC services, the key pairs generation, the certification of the public key based on authenticated response received from e-KYC services, and digital signature of the electronic document are facilitated by the eSign online Electronic Signature Service provider instantaneously within a single online service. The key pairs are used only once and the private key is deleted after one time use. The Digital Signature Certificates are of 30 minutes validity, and this makes verification simple by eliminating the requirements of revocation checking. Document that is signed using eSign will contain a valid digital signature that can be easily verified using standard methods.
Upon the biometric or OTP authentication of the individual with the already verified information kept in the database of e-KYC provider, key pairs are generated and public key along with information received from e-KYC provider are submitted to CA for certification. Immediately after signature is generated with the private key of individual, the key pairs are deleted. The key pairs are generated on Secure Hardware Security Module to ensure security and privacy.
Audit log files are generated for all events relating to the security of the eSign-Online Electronic Signature Service. The security audit logs are automatically collected and digitally signed by ASPs. All security audit logs, both electronic and non-electronic, shall be retained and are audited periodically.
eSign online Electronic Signature Service can be effectively used in scenarios where signed documents are required to be submitted to service providers - Government, Public or Private sector. The agencies which stand to benefit from offering eSign online electronic signature are those that accept large number of signed documents from users.
Some applications which can use eSign for enhancing for enhancing services delivery are the following:-