Adobe-led consortium to develop open, cloud-based digital signature standards

• Spurred by EU’s eIDAS coming into effect on July 1
• To pioneer open digital signatures for mobile and web

 
ADOBE Inc has announced the Cloud Signature Consortium, a group comprising industry and academic organisations committed to building a new open standard for cloud-based digital signatures across mobile and web so that anyone can digitally sign documents from anywhere.
 
This comes in the wake of the new European Union signature regulation (eIDAS) coming into effect on July 1. EU Regulation No 910/2014 (PDF) is expected to pave the way for the global adoption of secure digital signatures.
 
Digital signatures are the most advanced and secure type of electronic signature, increasingly used by businesses and governments around the world, Adobe said in a statement.
 
However, using standards-compliant digital signatures today can be a cumbersome, time-consuming process that keeps people tethered to their desktop. In many cases, they need certificate-based IDs stored on a physical device, like a USB token or smart card.
 
This approach doesn’t meet increasing consumer and business expectations for simple and engaging experiences that work anywhere, on any device, the company said.
 
Andwhile some cloud-based digital signature solutions exist, they are proprietary and fragmented, rather than an open approach that offers a choice of certificate providers, it added.
 
As a founding member of the new consortium, Adobe said it is collaborating with industry leaders to develop an open standard that will bring the world’s most secure form of electronic signing to over seven billion mobile devices around the globe.
 
“Adobe has a history of pioneering and advancing industry standards like PDF (Portable Document Format). We embrace open standards and, where none exist, we help create them,” said Bryan Lamkin, executive vice president and general manager of Digital Media at Adobe.
 
“With more than six billion digital and electronic signature transactions processed each year through Adobe Sign and Adobe Document Cloud, we are focused on moving the signature industry forward.
 
“Today, in collaboration with the Cloud Signature Consortium, we are proud to advance an open standard for cloud-based digital signatures,” he added.
 
Why an open standard
 
The new standard created by the consortium will be critical to furthering digital transformation of business on a global scale by giving everyone access to secure digital signature solutions across a full range of cloud applications and mobile devices, Adobe said.
 
Once implemented, the standard will benefit processes where signer identification is critical, such as applying for a marriage or business licence, social security benefits, or signing for a large loan.
 
While initially focused on the EU, the Cloud Signature Consortium aims to build a global network of industry contributors and intends to release new standard specifications by the end of 2016, with the first cloud-based implementations to follow shortly thereafter.
 
In addition to Adobe, initial Cloud Signature Consortium members include EU cloud-based digital signature providers, trust services providers, academics and standards and security focused organisations.
 
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