Adobe announces new open standard for cloud-based digital signatures

Adobe has announced its new open standard to enable cloud-based digital signatures across mobiles and the Web. Through a Cloud Signature Consortium, the new standard will allow users to sign documents digitally from anywhere around the world.

To widen the Cloud Signature Consortium and to expand the open standard in a short span of time, Adobe has partnered with some industry leaders. The consortium is targeting to provide the secure form of electronic signing to more than seven billion mobile devices. “With more than six billion digital and electronic signature transactions processed each year through Adobe Sign and Adobe Document Cloud, we are focused on moving the signature industry forward,” said Bryan Lamkin, executive vice president and general manager of digital media, Adobe. The open standard will benefit processes where signer identification is critical. It provides a secure solution to authorise documents when applying for a marriage or business licence as well as gives some social security benefits.

Research firm IDC considers that the new development in the world of digital security will enable best practices for the industry. “An open standard focused on cloud-based digital signatures will not only help companies save time and resources but ultimately move an entire industry forward with best practices that benefit all,” said Melissa Webster, vice president of content and digital media technologies, IDC.

In addition to Adobe, the Cloud Signature Consortium includes members such as trust service providers, academics and security-focused organisations.

The consortium will initially focus on the European Union and then build a global network of industry contributions. Specifications of the new standard are likely to be released by the end of 2016 to kick-start the all-new experience.