E-signature glossary
Every term you need to understand electronic signatures — from audit trails to zero-knowledge proofs. Plain English, no jargon.
A
Apostille
An apostille is a form of authentication issued by a competent government authority that certifies a…
AES-256 Encryption
AES-256 (Advanced Encryption Standard with a 256-bit key) is a symmetric block cipher adopted by the…
Audit Trail
An audit trail is a chronological, immutable record of all events associated with a document's lifec…
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Consent to Electronic Process
Consent to electronic process is a signer's affirmative agreement to conduct a specific transaction …
Counter-Signature
A counter-signature is a second signature added to a document to validate or confirm the first signa…
Certificate Authority
A Certificate Authority (CA) is a trusted organization that issues digital certificates after verify…
Click-to-Sign
Click-to-sign is an electronic signature method where a signer indicates their agreement by clicking…
Co-Signer
A co-signer is a party who signs a document alongside the primary signer, typically assuming joint o…
D
Digital Certificate
A digital certificate is an electronic credential issued by a Certificate Authority (CA) that crypto…
Document Hash
A document hash is a fixed-length cryptographic digest computed from a document's contents, serving …
Document Workflow
A document workflow is a configured sequence of steps — including routing, review, approval, and sig…
E
ESIGN Act
The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN Act) is a U.S. federal law enac…
eIDAS
eIDAS (Electronic Identification, Authentication and Trust Services) is an EU regulation (No 910/201…
Electronic Record
An electronic record is any contract, notice, disclosure, or other document created, generated, sent…
Encryption at Rest
Encryption at rest is the protection of stored data by encrypting it while it resides on disk, in a …
Envelope
In electronic signature platforms, an envelope is a digital container that bundles one or more docum…
Electronic Notary
An electronic notary (eNotary) is a commissioned notary public authorized to perform notarial acts u…
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Power of Attorney Signing
Power of attorney signing occurs when an agent (attorney-in-fact) signs a document on behalf of a pr…
PKI (Public Key Infrastructure)
Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is the set of roles, policies, hardware, software, and procedures ne…
PAdES
PAdES (PDF Advanced Electronic Signatures) is a standard defined by ETSI (EN 319 100 series) that sp…
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S
Statute of Frauds
The Statute of Frauds is a legal doctrine requiring certain types of contracts to be in writing and …
SHA-256
SHA-256 (Secure Hash Algorithm 256-bit) is a cryptographic hash function that produces a fixed 256-b…
Signer Authentication
Signer authentication is the process of verifying that the person accessing a signing workflow is ac…
Signing Ceremony
A signing ceremony is the structured event, whether in-person or remote, during which all required p…
Signer Verification
Signer verification is the process of confirming that a signing party's declared identity matches a …
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TLS Encryption
TLS (Transport Layer Security) is a cryptographic protocol that provides authenticated, encrypted co…
Tamper-Evident Seal
A tamper-evident seal is a cryptographic mechanism embedded in a signed document that causes verific…
Timestamp Authority
A Timestamp Authority (TSA) is a trusted third party that issues signed timestamps — cryptographic t…