Digital signatures reaching boom in Oz

The demand for digital signatures is reaching fever pitch in Australia, with banks, credit unions, hospitals, law firms transport organisations and many industries all clambering to incorporate the technology into daily working life.

Transactions through electronic signatures have been legal in Australia since 2000, but the popularity of this technology is growing more than ever now.

John Zeller, the managing director for Intercept Information Solutions, which is the vehicle for the sales and distribution of this technology for Topaz Systems Inc. (an American company), said that electronic digital signature systems are attracting more attention now because of the improved security facilities they offer.

"Through especially encrypted, biometric technology, signatures can be recorded much more securely than through hand-written use. The biometric method measures speed, pressure points and many other different factors, which can be compared to the original signature stored in the database.

"It takes in a number of readings in order to verify the authenticity of the signature. In addition, if the original signature is tampered with, the encryption technology recognises this and immediately erases it, preventing somebody from carrying out a fraudulent crime.

"No two signatures are the same either, so if we find a signature that exactly matches the shape of the one in the database, the system can also identify this as a fraud too.

The Topaz eSignature system provides the tools, intellectual property, patents, software, and training to take an eCommerce document from the electronic pen and pad all the way to signature authentication in the courtroom.

Unlike other electronic signature systems that display only an image of signature (the equivalent of a fax or photocopy) and promise legal compliance but offer no forensic examination tools or authenticable data, the Topaz methods binds the original biometric and forensic pen data directly into the signed electronic document.

This unaltered pen data can later be verified by a forensic document examiner using Topaz's patented SigAnalyze software to determine whether or not the signature is authentic, giving users the security of knowing that forgeries and frauds can be detected.

Even high profile legal documents can be exchanged now between lawyers in Australia with the use of electronic, biometric signatures. Some systems even use fingerprint records to verify the identity of a person.

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