Digital signatures, online notarization evolve around regulatory and legal shifts

Secure digital signing tools from Cryptomathic, Proof and Videosign are leveraging the spectrum of standards, changing legislation and verification methods to meet the needs of customers seeking safe, cost-effective and compliant options for electronic signatures.

Signer 6.0 stays ahead of regulations with eIDAS 2.0-ready e-signing

Cryptomathic has released Signer 6.0, the latest generation of its electronic signature tool, which it calls “fully ready for” the coming updates to Europe’s digital ID regulation. A company blog post says Signer 6 offers greater interoperability, performance improvements and signatures certified to the highest level (EAL4+), compliant with SCAL2. The product is modular and designed for adaptability, leveraging standards and Cloud Signature Consortium (CSC) API specifications for easy integration with identity schemes via standardized APIs. It offers, for legal documents and agreements, a sole control protocol to make remote signatures secure, non-repudiable and legally binding.

Supporting Advanced Electronic Signatures and Qualified Electronic Signatures (AdES and QES), the software provides optimized performance within the signature activation module (SAM). It also meets EN 419 241- 2, the European Commission’s certification standard for remote qualified signature creation devices, and the CSC’s standards for open digital signatures on mobile and the web.

Signer 6.0 comes with a long-term certification of five years, and existing Cryptomathic customers will be offered migration from Signer 5, without the need to invest in new hardware or recertification, until 2029.

Proof California dreaming in light of new online notarization law

With California preparing to streamline the acceptance of online notarizations performed remotely by out-of-state notaries, online notarization platform Proof is hoping to capitalize on the opportunity to facilitate fully digital closings in the state. A press release says that through its online network of remote online real estate notaries, Notarize, the firm has digitally closed $374 billion worth of mortgages, refinances and other transactions.

Representing 12 percent of the U.S. population and real estate market, California presents a significant opening for remote online notarization services, following the passage of CA Senate Bill 696 on the first day of this year. The new law clarifies and affirms that notarizations performed in other states are valid in California. Proof says online notarization is convenient, cost effective and secure, factoring in enhanced digital identity verification measures.

“As the enabler of a record number of the nation’s online notarizations across real estate, auto, insurance, equipment leasing, and financial services,” says Proof CEO Pat Kinsel, “Proof is prepared and equipped to help ease the home selling and buying process for millions of Californians.”

OneID’s bank account verification integrated into Videosign platform

A release says UK digital identity firm OneID is providing verification services to digital signature company Videosign, allowing Videosign users to verify their identities using pre-verified information linked to their bank accounts before signing contracts and documents.

Videosign is an online meeting and digital signature platform targeting the financial and legal sectors, which lets users create, sign and witness documents remotely, and securely store them with video evidence of the transaction. Videosign’s digital signatures are compliant with eIDAS.

“By merging Videosign’s innovative electronic signature approach with OneID’s unique identity solution, a secure and straightforward method for authenticating individuals’ identities is established, ensuring the protection of Videosign’s customers and signatories,” says OneID Chief Customer Officer Keith Mabbitt.

Said Nina Hinton, head of business growth at Videosign, “Our partnership with OneID makes life even easier for our users by giving them the ability to verify who they are and sign documents even if they do not have identity documents with them. Using bank data in this way lets users sign whenever they want, wherever they are, on any device.

For those who do have their ID handy, Videosign also continues to offer ID verification through selfie biometrics.

This post was updated at 2:22pm Eastern on January 17, 2024 to clarify the identity of Proof.

Article Topics

Cryptomathic  |  digital ID  |  electronic-signature  |  Notarize  |  OneID  |  Videosign