According to XML e-signature software
articles,
Digital
signatures are created and verified by cryptography, the branch of
applied mathematics that concerns itself with transforming messages into
seemingly unintelligible forms and back again. Digital signatures use
what is known as "public key cryptography," which employs an algorithm
using two different but mathematically related "keys;" one for creating
a digital signature or transforming data into a seemingly unintelligible
form, and XML e-signature software articles said "another key for
verifying a digital signature or returning the message to its original
form".
XML e-signature
software articles,
two processes, one
performed by the signer and the other by the receiver of the digital
signature software:
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- Digital signature creation,
XML e-signature software articles uses a hash result derived
from and unique to both the signed message and a given private key.
For the
hash
result to be secure, there must be only a negligible possibility
that the same digital signature could be created by the combination of
any other message or private key.
- Digital signature verification
is the process of checking the digital signature by reference to the
original message and a given public key, thereby determining whether
the digital signa ture was created for that same message using the
private key that corresponds to the referenced public key.
XML e-signature software articles creation uses a hash result derived from and unique to
both the signed message and a given private key. For the hash result to
be secure, there must be only a
negligible possibility that the same
XML e-signature software articles could be created by the combination of any
other message or private key.
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