Electronic Signatures CTO Workshop January 6, 2005 System Computing Services

ESIGN & UETA Definitions of Electronic Signatures E-Sign: “…an electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to or logically associated with a record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record.” UETA (Uniform Electronic Transactions Act): “…information or data in electronic form, attached to or logically associated with an electronic record, and executed or adopted by a person or an electronic agent of a person, with the intent to sign a contract, agreement or record.”

E-Sign Statutory Language Section 101(a) – General Rule of Validity (1) a signature, contract, or other record relating to such transaction may not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form; and (2) a contract relating to such transaction may not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely because an electronic signature or electronic record was used in its formation. But – electronic record may be denied legal effect, validity or enforceability if it is not in a form capable of being retained and accurately reproduced by all persons who are entitled to retain it.

Electronic vs. Digital Signatures Electronic Signature Describes the full range of electronic means to confirm the sender of the message Ranging from a graphical image of the sender’s handwritten signature to biometric techniques such as iris scans or fingerprints Digital Signature A special form of encryption invented in the 1970s using two different keys One which is kept secret to the user (the private key) and the other which is made publicly available (the public key) Once a message is encrypted using one key, it can only be decrypted by use of the other key. Also referred to as “Public Key Infrastructure” (PKI technology)

Secretary of the State & Digital Signatures Vendors providing services to Nevada using PKI Technology must provide the following documents to the Secretary of the State: Complete Application for Certification Authority License CS2 audit report of their system Trustworthy employees background check and fingerprinting Professional insurance (no less than 5 Million) General/Commercial insurance (no less than 10 million) Process can take up to a year and as of today, no vendor is registered with the state to provide this service