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Silanis electronic approval management: Bridging the gap between e-business processes and PKI security

There’s no doubt that moving to an e-business model will enhance an organization’s bottom line. Never before have companies been able to communicate with, and sell directly to, so many customers at such a relatively low cost as with the Internet. Moreover, moving entire business processes on-line while sharing data between employees, customers, suppliers, and trading partners, promises to yield even greater returns. But shifting from a paper-based model to a purely electronic one is not a straightforward process. Businesses not only need to emulate traditional handwritten signatures in an electronic environment, they must also ensure that as the volume of electronic transactions increases, data remains secure and individuals are held accountable. Not surprisingly, companies are turning to electronic signature management solutions to solve these issues. Implementing these solutions, however, requires an understanding of the work procedures currently in use as well as the legal and security provisions in place to support them electronically.

Increasingly, public/private key cryptography is being used as the foundation to develop products and services that work together to enable e-transactions to occur in a secure environment. However, as the security market has exploded, so too has consumer confusion over what exactly vendors are offering as enterprise-wide cornerstone solutions. The greatest confusion surrounds the difference between digital signatures, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), electronic signing, and electronic approvals. The four are often considered synonymous whereas they represent significantly different products, services, and processes.

The common misunderstanding regarding digital signature technology is one example. While many organizations believe that adopting digital signature technology will allow them to electronically sign data and achieve the same legally-binding results as with pen and paper, this is not at all the case. The same confusion occurs when evaluating electronic signatures versus PKI. An electronic signature is a legal concept, whereas PKI is the technology at the foundation of a secure infrastructure.

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