Digital Signatures

What’s A Signature?

Signatures provide authenticity and credibility to one or more claims across diverse contexts. Most university diplomas include the signature of the university president at the very bottom of the document. This signature attests that the degree you received is official and valid. When you approve a contract for a service or product, you’re expected to include your signature as proof that you’ve agreed to the terms. Signatures impart credibility by tying a set of claims to an individual’s unique signature, who is attesting to the validity of those claims.

Digital Signatures

Verifiable credentials have digital signatures, which perform a similar function to physical signatures. However, digital signatures are a little more complex and a lot more secure than regular signatures. A regular signature can be forged or tampered with fairly easily, as many financial fraudsters know.

Forgery or tampering with digital signatures is no small feat. Unlike their physical counterparts, digital signatures are often built on a series of complicated algorithms and mathematical operations that ensure that the recipient of a digital signature can be certain of the validity of that signature.

One of the many advantages of verifiable credentials is the use of these complex and secure digital signatures, which are required on every verifiable credential.