Electronic signatures are a digital representation of an individual’s agreement that is intended to be the equivalent of a “wet” signature. Electronic signatures encompass a set of methods that can be applied to a digital document to capture intent to sign, and consent to sign electronically. They do this by electronically gathering metadata related to all signing events, and creating an audit trail that is cryptographically sealed to ensure document authenticity, nonrepudiation and integrity of the electronically signed document. This audit trail may also contain various supporting evidence of the individuals signing the document, such as names, email addresses, identity proofing and authentication steps. Evidence details may vary with each product, but the audit trail provides evidence to support the legal value of the document. A digital signature (as it relates to document signing) is a type of electronic signature that, in addition to the requirements of an electronic signature, also requires that each signer sign the document with a digital certificate that is explicitly issued to them.
Email security refers collectively to the prediction, prevention, detection and response framework used to provide attack protection and access protection for email. Email security spans gateways, email systems, user behavior, content security, and various supporting processes, services and adjacent security architecture. Effective email security requires not only the selection of the correct products, with the required capabilities and configurations, but also having the right operational procedures in place.