Imagine that your company has issued a press release containing your latest financial results and distributes it to the media as a digital document. What would happen if the release was intercepted and altered or replaced with a version containing inaccurate information? If this false information were reported by the media, your company could face serious consequences. This example illustrates the importance of being able to validate that a document came from the person it was supposed to have come from and that the contents have not been altered since it was created. That capability is delivered through digital signatures.

In addition, digital signatures can be used as part of a round-trip workflow to enable the recipient of an electronic form to fill it in and digitally sign it to approve a business transaction. Some governments have implemented or are considering legislation to make digital signatures legally binding.

Digital signatures are created using sophisticated encryption technology and a public key infrastructure (PKI). For more information about how digital signatures work, read the FAQ or visit one of Adobe's digital signature partner Web sites, which can be found through the Adobe® Solutions Network