An electronic seal is a piece of data attached to an electronic document or other data, which ensures data origin and integrity.
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The term is used in the EU Regulation No 910/2014 (
eIDAS
The eIDAS Regulation (for "electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services") is an regulation (European Union), EU regulation with the stated purpose of governing "electronic identification and trust service provider, trust service ...
Regulation) for electronic transactions within the
internal European market.
Description
Conceptually similar to
electronic signature
An electronic signature, or e-signature, is data that is logically associated with other data and which is used by the signatory to sign the associated data. This type of signature has the same legal standing as a handwritten signature as long as ...
s and usually technically realized as
digital signatures, electronic seals serve as evidence that an electronic document was issued by a specific legal entity. For this purpose, an electronic seal must be linked to the data sealed with it in such a way that any subsequent change in the data is detectable and also in such a way that a fake seal cannot be created without access to the data (usually a private key) used for creation of the digital seal. This is usually achieved through use of a qualified
digital certificate
In cryptography, a public key certificate, also known as a digital certificate or identity certificate, is an electronic document used to prove the validity of a public key. The certificate includes the public key and information about it, informa ...
that is involved in creation of a digital seal. The unique
private key
Public-key cryptography, or asymmetric cryptography, is the field of cryptographic systems that use pairs of related keys. Each key pair consists of a public key and a corresponding private key. Key pairs are generated with cryptographic alg ...
used in the creation of the digital seal ensures non-repudiation: the entity that created the digital seal cannot later deny that it created the seal for that document. If the document is modified after its digital seal was created, the digital seal is not valid for the modified document. This can be checked by anyone with access of the
public key
Public-key cryptography, or asymmetric cryptography, is the field of cryptographic systems that use pairs of related keys. Each key pair consists of a public key and a corresponding private key. Key pairs are generated with cryptographic alg ...
corresponding to the private key used in the creation of the digital seal, ensuring the
integrity
Integrity is the quality of being honest and having a consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and values.
In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and Honesty, truthfulness or of one's actions. Integr ...
of the sealed document.
Besides authenticating the document issued by the legal entity, e-Seals can also be used to authenticate any digital asset of the legal person, such as software code or servers. The important difference between a digital signature and an electronic seal is that the latter is usually created by a legal person while digital signatures are created by a natural person. For the creation of a digital signature, action of the person signing a document or data is required. In contrast, the creation of the digital seals can be incorporated in automated processes executed in a digital environment.
Qualified electronic seal
A qualified electronic seal is an electronic seal that is compliant to EU Regulation No 910/2014 (eIDAS Regulation) for electronic transactions within the internal European market.
It enables to verify the issuer of a document over long periods of time. Qualified electronic seals can be considered as digital equivalent to seals of legal entities on paper. According to the eIDAS regulation, a qualified electronic seal must be created by a qualified electronic device and based on a qualified certificate for electronic seal.
References
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Data security
European Single Market