National Association of Counties * Washington, DC / Vol. 30, No. 8 * April 27, 1998

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Digital Signature Technology Coming Soon

You may not realize it, but if your county has a Web site, it has taken the first step toward conducting electronic business - using the Web to connect your constituents with your business systems. In essence, your county has created an electronic version of "window shopping" - providing your customers (your citizens) with an easy and inexpensive way to "walk by" and gaze at information about your county.

Imagine if your county had the capability to fully conduct electronic business - performing transactions electronically. Consider the convenience you would provide your citizens, not to mention the time and cost-saving benefits to the county, if taxes and fees could be paid electronically. Or the savings in physical storage requirements if legally binding contracts and documents could be filed electronically. The types and benefits of electronic transactions to both the county and the citizen are endless.

But before this capability can exist, a few critical elements need to be in place. First, the electronic document must be secure so that it cannot be altered by unauthorized individuals somewhere in route between sender and receiver. Also, the recipient must be certain that the document is indeed authentic, that it was initiated by the sender.

A signature would satisfy the security and authentication issues. Yet how can an electronic document - one that is generated and stored on a computer - be signed? The answer is with digital signature technology.

A digital signature is not a physical, written signature (such as a digitized signature). Rather, a digital signature is comprised of a lengthy series of letters, numbers and symbols that is unique to each signer. Using software at both ends of the transaction, the recipient can verify that the document originated from the sender and arrived unaltered.

The process of digitally signing a document is simple. An individual uses software that, by following simple prompts, attaches a unique, hidden set of characters to the document - the "signature."

The document is then sent to the recipient with this digital signature attached. The recipient in turn uses software to verify the signature. The digital signature of the sender has been registered with a licensed certification authority, which links the signature to the individual. If manipulation of the document occurred at any point in its transmission, the digital signature will not be verified.

When the document is verified, the recipient can be certain that it is the exact document that the sender authorized, without even the most minute alteration. Security of digital signatures has been claimed to be foolproof.

The signature also leaves an electronic "paper" trail: it identifies the sender, the recipient and the date and time the document was opened. Nobody can later lay claim that they did not receive the document.

A number of barriers exist that have stunted the growth of this technology. The primary obstacle is legislative: to date, only eight states have enacted legislation that considers digital signatures legally binding and enforceable. A number of other states are considering such legislation, but only when each state enacts enabling legislation will the technology realize its full potential.

Another barrier is lack of infrastructure. A network of certifying authorities is required to support the technology. Finally, training and professional accreditation for the technology have been minimal to date.

However, as more states legislatively adopt the technology, the infrastructure and training hurdles should disappear. While nobody is predicting that digital technology will replace handwritten signatures, it will undoubtedly become commonplace in the not so distant future.

The topics of electronic commerce and digital signatures will be discussed at a workshop session at the upcoming NACo Annual Conference.

(Technology News was written by Fred Zeldow, information technology project specialist.)