Adobe 22002486 Digital Signature User Guide - Page 101

Authenticity Verification, 1.1.2, Document Integrity Verification

Page 101 highlights

Acrobat 9 Family of Products Security Feature User Guide Validating Signatures What Makes a Signature Valid? 101 7.1.1.1 Authenticity Verification Authenticity verification starts with a signer obtaining a digital ID that includes an X.509 certificate. The validator must add that certificate (or have previously added one of its issuing certificates) to their trusted identities list. Either the signer's certificate or one of its issuing certificates must then be explicitly trusted for signing, thereby making it a trust anchor used during signature validation. At validation time, the certificate is processed and analyzed to see if it's valid. That is, Acrobat performs a revocation check and other relevant operations before determining what the signature status will be. Figure 69 Internal Document Signature components Digital ID Private key Certificate: • Public key • Identity info (stored on computer or security device) ... PDF Document %PDF (PDF content) signature dictionary /ByteRange { . . . } /Contents • Certificate • Signed message digest • Timestamp Signature value %EOF 7.1.1.2 Document Integrity Verification In signing workflows, document integrity refers to whether or not what was signed has changed after signing in a way that violates any document rules. That is, what the signer signed should be reproducible and viewable on the document recipient's end. At a high level, the Acrobat family of products therefore implements signatures as follows:  Each signature captures what the document looked like at the signing point in time.  Only very limited changes are possible after a signature is applied. At most, form field values, additional signatures, and annotations can be changed or added.  View Signed Version shows exactly what was signed. The signature panel lists post-signing changes.  A certification signature can tighten the rule to allow less changes than form fields, additional signatures, and annotations. To verify if a document has changed after signing (has integrity), Acrobat or Adobe Reader must have a way to uniquely identify what was signed. To do this, it uses a message digest. A message digest is a number which is created algorithmically from a file and which uniquely represents that file. If the file changes, the message digest changes. Sometimes referred to as a checksum or hash, a message digest is simply a unique number created at signing time that identifies what was signed and is then embedded in the signature and the document for later verification. During the act of signing, the application creates a message digest and then encrypts that digest with the signer's private key. The digest is embedded in the document along with the signature's appearance. Every

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Acrobat 9 Family of Products
Validating Signatures
Security Feature User Guide
What Makes a Signature Valid?
101
7.1.1.1
Authenticity Verification
Authenticity verification starts with a signer obtaining a digital ID that includes an X.509 certificate. The
validator must add that certificate (or have previously added one of its issuing certificates) to their trusted
identities list. Either the signer’s certificate or one of its issuing certificates must then be explicitly trusted
for signing, thereby making it a trust anchor used during signature validation. At validation time, the
certificate is processed and analyzed to see if it’s valid. That is, Acrobat performs a revocation check and
other relevant operations before determining what the signature status will be.
Figure 69
Internal Document Signature components
7.1.1.2
Document Integrity Verification
In signing workflows, document integrity refers to whether or not what was signed has changed after
signing in a way that violates any document rules. That is, what the signer signed should be reproducible
and viewable on the document recipient’s end. At a high level, the Acrobat family of products therefore
implements signatures as follows:
Each signature captures what the document looked like at the signing point in time.
Only very limited changes are possible after a signature is applied.
At most, form field values,
additional signatures, and annotations can be changed or added.
View Signed Version shows exactly what was signed.
The signature panel lists post-signing changes.
A certification signature can tighten the rule to allow less changes than form fields, additional
signatures, and annotations.
To verify if a document has changed after signing (has integrity), Acrobat or Adobe Reader must have a
way to uniquely identify what was signed. To do this, it uses a
message digest
. A message digest is a
number which is created algorithmically from a file and which uniquely represents that file. If the file
changes, the message digest changes. Sometimes referred to as a
checksum
or
hash
, a message digest is
simply a unique number created at signing time that identifies what was signed and is then embedded in
the signature and the document for later verification.
During the act of signing, the application creates a message digest and then encrypts that digest with the
signer’s private key. The digest is embedded in the document along with the signature’s appearance. Every
Signature
value
PDF Document
%PDF
/ByteRange
{ . . . }
• Certificate
• Signed message digest
• Timestamp
/Contents
(PDF content)
%EOF
Digital ID
(stored on computer
or security device)
Private key
Certificate
:
• Public key
• Identity info
.
.
.
signature dictionary