digital signature

The electronic equivalent of a handwritten signature, a digital signature is a unique block of text that verifies a user's identity and is appended to a message. The signature can be used to confirm the identify of the sender and the integrity of the message. The block of text is encrypted and decrypted using public and private keys.

An advanced security feature that enables users to verify the source of messages and to verify that the contents have not been modified during transit. [Exchange 5.5]

Data that binds a sender's identity to the information being sent. A digital signature may be bundled with any message, file, or other digitally encoded information, or transmitted separately. Digital signatures are used in public key environments and provide nonrepudiation and integrity services.

See electronic signature.

An asymmetric key operation where the private key is used to digitally sign an electronic document and the public key is used to verify the signature. Digital signatures provide authentication and integrity protection.

Data appended to, or a cryptographic transformation (see cryptography) of, a data unit that allows a recipient of the data unit to prove the source and integrity of the data unit and protect against forgery e.g. by the recipient [7498-2].