ChamberSign

What is the use of an electronic signature?

The electronic signature allows one:

• To authenticate your exchanges on the internet;
• To guarantee in a reliable way the origin of documents and transmitted information;
• To guarantee the integrity of information and documents transmitted. The use of the electronic certificates for signatures makes it possible to check if information was not altered;
• To ensure non-repudiation. The signer of the document cannot deny being the author of the document because his/her signature has remained under his/her exclusive control;
• To guarantee the confidentiality with encryption. The sender has the assuarance that only the addressee will be able to access the information.
• To increase the confidence in your exchanges of documents

What are the applications which can use an electronic certificate of signature?

More and more applications can use electronic certificates. These are the most common ones:

• Securing email exchange
• e-Signature
• Custom documents
• Storage and encryption
• e-Invoice
• e-Procurement

To sign an email

Why do we have to sign an email?

When you send a message on the Internet, it could be intercepted and modified by malicious people or servers. The signature of the message allows one to guarantee:

• the identity of the transmitter of the message
• the integrity of the message. You can know if the message was modified between its transmission and its reception
• Non-repudiation. The sender cannot deny being the author of the email.

How to know that I received a signed email?

A signed email is recognizable by an icon in the list of received messages. When you open the message and click on the seal, you can view the certificate of the signer as well as the name of the Certification Authority which issued the certificate.

How can I sign an email?

Before sending signed emails you must complete 3 steps:

1. Some certificates require you to configure your mail account. In this case you have to assign your certificate to your email account. This operation is only performed once.
2. Compose your message
3. Click an icon in your mail client to send and sign your message. You will usually be asked to enter a password to confirm your ownership of the certificate.

Are the attached files signed?

When you sign a message using the certificate, you do not guarantee the authenticity and the integrity of the attachments, except during the routing of the signed email. They must be signed independently of the message.

To encrypt an email

What is the difference between a message signed and a message encrypted?

To sign a message means that you attach an electronic signature to the email, based on your electronic certificate. This signature allows the recipient to know who the transmitter is and that the message was not altered during its transmission on the Internet.

The signature authenticates, but does not guarantee, the confidentiality of the message during the transmission. Encrypting a message means that the message is scrambled, guaranteeing its confidentiality. It is possible to sign and encrypt the same message.

Before sending encrypted emails you must complete 3 steps:

1. The sender must have a copy of the recipient’s public key. You can retrieve this information online from a database.
2. Compose your message.
3. Click an icon in your mail client to encrypt the message with the recipient’s public key.

To sign a digital file

E-signature tools allow you to sign files in various formats. This is the case for example with Word, Excel or Adobe Pdf.

With these tools, you can send invoices, order forms, cost statements, contracts, etc.