Digital vs. Electronic Signature

An electronic signature (or eSignature) is an electronic signing process that accepts an agreement or contract. Electronic signing is a generic function that can be accomplished in various forms. 

For the European Union’s eIDAS definition see chart below

Digital signature solutions leverage certificate-based digital identification for validation of document integrity. These certificates are often issued by a certificate authority (or CA) and provide proof of signing with trusted time stamps. The use of encryption binds a digital certificate associated with a signature to the corresponding document. For the European Union’s eIDAS definition see chart below.

The QES is the only form of electronic signature that requires a digital identity. Users must identify themselves once for this purpose. The “digital passport” is issued by various service providers and platforms, primarily using video-based identification procedures (video identification procedure). For the European Union’s eIDAS definition see chart below.

How does Cobblestone offer this type:

IntelliSign or any third party provider that integrates with the system

Has to be Adobe or DocuSign

For DocuSign this must be the client's account and it is not integrated with Doc Collab

For Adobe this can be the stand alone like DocuSign or the signing engine used within DocCollab

For SignNow this must be the client's account and it is not integrated with Doc Collab

Has to be Adobe or DocuSign

For DocuSign this must be the client's account and it is not integrated with Doc Collab

For Adobe this can be the stand alone like DocuSign or the signing engine used within Doc Collab

For SignNow this must be the client's account and it is not integrated with Doc Collab

CobbleStone is working on a partnership with eID Easy.com to have this functionality integrated with Doc Collab

What signature providers offer this type:

Any third party provider that integrates with the system 

Some providers of Digital Signatures include: DocuSign, Adobe Sign, SignNow, PandaDoc,ZohoSign, SignEasy and others

Some providers of Qualified Electronic Signatures (QES) digital signatures include: DocuSign, DigiCert QuoVadis, GlobalSign, Signicat, Zoho Sign, Swisscom Trust Services, and D-Trust

Definitions of the European Union’s eIDAS regulation, which is one of the most stringent regulations in the world, outlines different levels of assurance when utilizing a digital signature: 

Low: Standard Electronic Signatures use self-enrollment with no identity verification or authentication. (what we have in the chart as Electronic Signatures above)

Substantial: Advanced Digital Signature enrollment requires some amount of identity validation such as a one-time password or remote verification with authentication of the identity. (what we have in the chart as Digital Signatures above)

High: Qualified digital signature enrollment requires a greater proof of identity verification such as face-to-face, whether in-person or remotely (via video), or an increased amount of biometric match with multifactor authentication. (what we have in the chart as Qualified Digital Signatures above)