Security risks and precautionsDigital signatures

While browsing the internet users can unwittingly download spyware, or become victims of phishing and keylogging software. Fraud, identity theft and server attacks are also becoming more commonplace. To safeguard against this, a server-side validation of online form data and encryption of network traffic is normally used.

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Digital signatures

A digital signature is a way to ensure that an electronic message or document is authentic.

The signature is created when the message is sent, using a private encryption key.

This is the opposite to normal PKE.

The signature is then paired with a public key and sent with the message. When the message run through the public key the result should match the signature.

If they don’t match then the message has been altered en route. This shows that the message has been intercepted and compromised.

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