Taking signatures seriously

2008 was the year of the comeback for a classical form of authentication: The handwritten signature found its way into the digital workflow: Thousands of SignPads were deployed at tellers of banks, counters of telecommunication companies and at cash terminals of large retailers. This article is a small compilation of the expertise within Softpro, the world’s leading solution provider for signature capturing and verification. The two signature experts Ralph Maute and Joerg-M. Lenz take a closer look at the factors that finally made trustworthy signing paperless, self-explaining and secure. They also reflect on some lessons learned in past years. Several best practice examples are highlighted, including comments of today’s users of electronic signature solutions.

If there is one major promise that IT never really fulfilled it is the one of a “paperless office”.  Probably because there have been several concepts for “paperless signatures”, which were not really convincing and difficult to understand. In addition to this there is a lot of confusing terminology around all sorts of electronic signatures.

2008 saw the breakthrough for the most natural way of paperless signing: digitizing the handwritten signature throughout the signing process. Steffen Knabe and Martin Grube of Finanz Informatik, Europe’s largest processing centre for financial institutions, summed up their experience after one of the first banks had started with paperless signing: „Piloting and usage in production at the Berliner Sparkasse have shown that the handwritten electronic signature is familiar to customers as a step into the world of electronic signatures – in contradiction to the qualified electronic signatures with smart card and PIN.“

Customers welcome Electronic Signing
In March 2009 the German Savings Banks Association (Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband, DSGV) published a statement which emphasizes the importance of handwritten signatures for the customer experience in a lot of banking processes. The article of Doris Görke in the weekly newspaper for savings banks outlined that signing on a SignPad is clearly seen as an enhancement of the customer service. Thus in addition to substantial cost savings the customer experience in the branch is clearly upgraded in a self-explaining manner. Although in many processes a signature is not mandatory in the context of the corresponding legal framework, Görke states that electronic signing with the handwritten signature is also beneficial from a marketing and sales perspective. The signing ceremony is an act of appraisal of the relationship between customer and bank. This act of appraisal is increasingly important since customers tend to visit the branches less often and their major interface to the bank is the bank’s website.

Signatures continue to be important in the digital workflow
A lot of people want to continue in relying on signatures. Hence a lot of banks and companies in other verticals seek solutions to integrate handwritten signatures in electronic processes. It is easy to understand why, since handwritten signatures offer what Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) or other Biometrics such as finger prints cannot provide:
• Signatures are a non-intrusive proof of intent.
• Signatures are culturally accepted and understood
• Signing is the most personal way for authentication
• The invisible biometric characteristics of signatures such as the different levels of writing pressure cannot be spied out.

These are reasons enough for more and more companies to take signatures seriously.

Workarounds and Half-way solutions you should not trust in
Nowadays a lot of companies are capturing a signature image and embed it into documents somehow. They do not realize that this image will not allow any further verification process if its authenticity is in doubt. Furthermore this process is not compliant with various e-signing laws throughout the world.

Handwritten signatures on paper are often also described as “wet ink signatures”. The electronic equivalent is a “digital ink signature”.  “Digital ink” became a common feature in the mainstream PCs with the launch of Windows Vista, e.g. for comments or annotations. It is important to keep in mind that a signature which was captured using digital ink is not automatically securely bound to a document. This signature image can be copied and pasted in a lot of other applications.

Unique Biometric Signature Characteristics
Non-repudiation can only be achieved when the biometric characteristics of a signature are captured too, and when this information is securely bound to a signed document. The additional verification of dynamic signals offers a higher level in security. A signature with a similar image like the reference signature may be detected as falsification because differences in their creation characteristics are discovered.

In order to understand what is necessary to trust a signature it is important to keep in mind that forensic experts rely on the holistic analysis of signatures, i.e. they look at and take into account the paper features, type of stylus, the ink flow and “visible” pressure. Most forensic experts exposed to the analysis of dynamic signatures tend to forget to apply the same principles. The equivalent holistic approach for dynamic signatures must take into account which device was used for signature capture, the device features and maybe even the signing environment and the co-relations to the signing process. The effective support of such hybrid environments where paper documents and e-docs still co-exist is one of the key factors for successful e-signing projects. In banking check verification is one of these additional use cases where in absence of dynamic signature parameters, static features may be used for comparison.

Choosing the appropriate Signature Capturing Devices
Signatures may be digitized during the signing process instead of scanning them from paper using a wide range of instruments: pen pads (with and without LC display), special pens and Tablet PCs. They allow a gradual move from paper-based documentation to electronic forms and straight-through-processing as well as upgrading the quality of signature verification in general.

Softpro has defined a set of quality criteria for capturing signatures with digitizing instruments. A proper comparison of static signature characteristics and dynamic signature signals requires a digitizing instrument that is taking a sufficient amount of time signals. It also has to be able to differentiate between various pressure levels and to provide an appropriate resolution rate. These requirements are also reflected in the standard for the interchange of biometric signature data (ISO/IEC FDIS 19794-7).

A lot of signatures today are taken with a low resolution. The capturing devices that courier services are using are probably the ones everyone knows. Most of them capture a rather pixilated image of a signature that is usually not applicable for later verification. Signatures taken on these devices may easily be claimed to be a forgery. In addition to this there are still several pen pads on the market which fail to meet the expectations of potential buyers.

SignPad triggers mass use of dynamic signatures 
The breakthrough of the adoption of dynamic signatures in mass use is linked to the launch of ”SignPad eSignio”, a joint development of the two companies Wacom and Softpro. This tablet was especially designed for signature capturing and introduced to the market at the end of 2007. It instantly became the best-selling signature tablet in the German Savings Bank's group. Customers from other verticals such as retail and telecommunication quickly embraced the SignPad as well. Obviously it was the pad they were waiting for. 

• Bodo Stüwe, responsible for the project at the Berliner Sparkasse, was the first one to roll out SignPads in its 140 customer centers. He is highly convinced by SignPad and SignDoc: "We have tested several different input devices, but the SignPad has convinced us that signing digitally can be convenient, robust, secure and cost-effective, all at the same time." As a result from the convincing feedback they have received from German Savings banks  in March 2009 the Spanish Confederation of Savings Banks (Confederación Española de Cajas de Ahorros, CECA) introduced SignPads in their primary process on a large scale as well.

• Ylfa Marte, Product Manager for the Electronic Receipt Storage Service at TeleCash: „The check out experience is one of the most important aspects to shape the image of a retailer in the eye of the customer. It is the final part of the shopping experience and ideally the customer keeps in mind a friendly and smooth handling at the teller. Cash desks occupied with card boxes for paper receipts are out of date in 2009.  For several years we have wished for a signature capturing device to enable the paperless retailer receipt. Such a device must display a signature similar to a signature signed on paper and display the receipt so that it is clearly and easy to read. A series of other devices from several vendors we have tested intensively could not convince us. Since the SignPad eSignio in connection with SOFTPRO’s SignWare SDK is available we do have the compelling solution which gets increasingly popular.“ The solution was first implemented at the German IKEA stores. In the meantime the SignPad eSignio became a familiar sight at German checkouts as it is also installed in fashion boutiques and shopping centers.

• Christian Escher, Technical Project Manager of project eSignature at Sunrise explains what Swiss customers expect: „It was pretty straightforward what we have expected from a device for signature capturing and the underlying software: It needs to be easy to use and innovative. Besides this we demanded a system that caters for our own shops as it does for our resellers. Today our customers sign easily – without paper. With the SignPad eSignio we use a device that displays the signature in a similar way to a handwritten signature on paper. The display can be used to display additional information while the tablet is not used for capturing signatures. When choosing the device we had our customers in mind who expect a high-class digitizing of their signatures. Simple pen pads, which are in usage at courier services or frequently seen in the United States, would neither be accepted by our customers nor they would match our own quality standards.“ Sunrise has built in the SignPad into the counters of its stores. Another very large telecommunication company in Western Europe has started to rollout SignPads in combination with Softpro’s solution in their flagship stores in their home country as well. 

Automatic Signature Verification
Depending on the application scenario customers decide if signatures are verified automatically prior to archiving of a document or only if the authenticity of signatures is in doubt at a later point in time. Some vendors only offer the option to pass captured data “in cases of doubt” to a forensic expert who then may analyze the captured signals “somehow”. Softpro is offering a highly sophisticated working tool for forensic experts who specialize in analyzing and comparing signatures. The tool visualizes dynamic (biometric) signals of the writing process. Some interactive 3D-effects were included as well, resulting into a very powerful tool for trustworthy signature processing. The instrument was created primarily for experts in fraud detection and prevention as part of a company's holistic risk management strategy.

Comparison of static characteristics and dynamic signals of a handwritten signature using Softpros forensic analyzing tool "Signalzye".

Creating signatures that stand for authenticity and security
Besides capturing the biometric data evolving from the signing process, handwritten signatures can also be used to enforce the authenticity and security of a document. The various flavors of SignDoc, Softpro’s software solutions for electronic documents, are taking care that recipients of a document can also rely on the non-repudiation of a handwritten signature. Legal experts define Softpro’s method of e-signing as "a legal surrogate equivalent to the conventional method of signing with ink on paper, and thus similarly fulfilling the formal intention to sign as on paper.” In other words, electronic signatures based on SignDoc offer at least the same security as handwritten signatures on paper, and even more.

Additional benefits for the back office
Digitizing signatures at the teller enhances the customer service experience and achieved substantial cost savings. Some banks or their processing centers could also optimize their back office processes. Bankenservice GmbH in Berlin runs a multi-tenant system which includes specialized services such as automatic signature verification for processing of transaction documents (giros and checks). The quality of their stored signature reference data has increased tremendously. Karsten Sprenger of Bankenservice GmbH: “Thanks to the reduced effort of manual post-processing, the whole signature verification process becomes cheaper. In addition to this, fraud attempts on the documents are detected more efficiently and at a lower cost to the bank.” This aspect characterizes Softpro’s truly holistic approach of signature processing: The extraction of signatures from signed electronic documents for further processing within a bank is enabled while maintaining the security and integrity of the signed documents and their signatures.

Ready to use
Doris Görke of the German Savings Banks Association adds in her article of March 20: “The recommendation for using the electronic signature had undergone the acid test by savings banks. Especially the reaction of customers has been very positive and surprised the Savings Banks employees in the market.”  Görke’s observations prove that electronic signing can be surprisingly self-explaining.

Slim Signatures are next in line
An overall trend is the demand for seamless embedding of the signature process into the digital workflow. Softpro is meeting this demand with the launch of the third generation of its SignDoc product suite in the second quarter of 2009. SignDoc Web enables the signing of electronic documents (e.g. PDF files) directly in the web browser through an ultra thin client. The client side footprint is minimized and SignDoc Web can be disseminated with web-like convenience. The software is fully based on open standards, hence it provides a secure investment to all those that seek a future-proof solution for paperless signing. Last, but not least it has an appealing user interface which may be adjusted to fit in perfectly almost every application environment.