Digital Signature Certificate
A Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) is an electronic credential that authenticates the identity of individuals or organizations for online transactions, ensuring data integrity, confidentiality, and non-repudiation in digital communications and document exchanges.
What is a Digital Signature Certificate (DSC)?
A Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) is a secure digital key that is issued by the Certifying Authorities (CA) for the purpose of validating and certifying the identity of the person holding this certificate. Digital Signatures make use of the public key encryptions to create the signatures.
A DSC contains information about the user’s name, pin code, country, email address, date of issuance of certificate and name of the certifying authority. The DSCs are usually valid for one to two years. However, they can be renewed before the expiry period.
Benefits of Digital Signature Certificate
Authentication:
Helpful in authenticating the personal information details of the individual holder when conducting business online.
Reduced cost and time:
Instead of signing the hard copy documents physically and scanning them to send them via e-mail, you can digitally sign the PDF files and send them much more quickly. A DSC holder does not have to be physically present to conduct or authorize a business.
Data integrity:
Documents that are signed digitally cannot be altered or edited after signing, which makes the data safe and secure. Government agencies often ask for these certificates to cross-check and verify the business transaction.
Authenticity of documents:
Digitally signed documents give confidence to the receiver to be assured of the signer’s authenticity. They can take action on the basis of such documents without getting worried about the documents being forged.
Certifying Authorities for Issuance of a Digital Signature Certificate
Types of DSCs
Sign
Encrypt
Sign and Encrypt
A person can use the Sign and Encrypt Certificate for both signing and encrypting purposes. It is usually used for filing government documents, forms and applications. It is suitable for those users who need to maintain and authenticate the confidentiality of the data exchanged.
The type of applicant and the purpose for which the Digital Signature Certificate is obtained define the kind of DSC one must apply for, depending on the need. There are three types of Digital Signature certificates issued by the certifying authorities.
Classes of DSCs
Class 1 Certificates
These are issued to individual/private subscribers and are used to confirm the user’s name and email contact within the database of the certifying authority.
Class 2 Certificates
Class 3 Certificates
These certificates are used in online participation/bidding in e-auctions and online tenders anywhere in India. The vendors who wish to participate in the online tenders must have a Class 3 digital signature certificate.
Since CCA has discontinued Class 2 Certificates from 01.01.2021, every person who needs to sign Registrar of Companies (ROC) forms, customs filing, income tax forms, patent and trademark filing, GST applications and other government forms online must obtain Class 3 Certificates.
Documents Required for Submitting a DSC Application
- Aadhaar card.
- PAN card.
- Passport-sized photo.
- Address proof.
How to download a digital signature certificate?
Process to download DSC from e-Mudhra:
- Plug in the USB token on your computer.
- Select the open files option and click on ePass2003India.setup.exe.
- Select the preferred language and click ‘OK’. Set up the ePass2003 by selecting the ‘Private CSP’ option and clicking the ‘Install’ button. Once it is installed, click the ‘Finish’ button.
- Set up a new pin to a USB token to download the DSC.
- Search for the installed ‘ePass2003 token manager’ on the Windows search bar.
- Enter the default pin and click on the change user pin to set a new pin.
- Visit the eMudhra website and click on the ‘Download Certificate’ option and on ‘emClick’.
- Enter the default pin and click on the change user pin to set a new pin.
- Enter the application number and challenge code sent to the registered mobile number.
- Enter the token password and click the ‘Agree and Download’ button.
Process to download DSC from Capricorn:
- Visit the Capricorn
- website.
- Click on the ‘Download DSC’ button.
- Enter the following details and click the ‘Submit’ button:
- Order ID
- Pin code mentioned in the applicant’s address
- Download Key sent on the registered mobile number.
- Select FIPS Token and click on the ‘Download’ button.
- Visit the Capricorn website.
- Click on the ‘Download DSC’ button.
- Enter the following details and click the ‘Submit’ button:
- Order ID
- Pin code mentioned in the applicant’s address
- Download Key sent on the registered mobile number.
- Select FIPS Token and click on the ‘Download’ button.
Process to download DSC from Pantasign:
- Plug in the e-token into the computer.
- Open DSC Download Utility.
- Enter the Customer ID and Passcode sent on the registered mobile number.
- Select the Token Type and enter the Token Password.
- Click on ‘Submit’ to continue.
- Select DSC Type and click ‘Download DSC’.
Process to download DSC from (n) Code Solutions:
- Plug in the e-token into the computer.
- Open DSC Download Utility.
- Enter the Customer ID and Passcode sent on the registered mobile number.
- Select the Token Type and enter the Token Password.
- Click on ‘Submit’ to continue.
- Select DSC Type and click ‘Download DSC’.
Process to download DSC from IDSign:
- Visit the IDSign website.
- Click on ‘Repository’ and then on the ‘Application Links’ option.
- Click on ‘Download’ under ‘IDSign Token Utility’.
- Unzip the downloaded folder.
- Open the IDSignTokenUtility.exe folder.
- Click on IDSignTokenUtility.exe.
- Enter the Reference Number and Mobile Number.
- Enter the Token Password and click on ‘Download Certificate’
How to check the validity of a digital signature certificate?
- Open the USB token tools.
- Click on the ‘Login’ button.
- Enter the token password.
- Click on your certificate name.
- The certificate will open. Click on the ‘Details’ tab.
- The details of your certificate will be displayed, including the validity details of the certificate.
Digital Signature FAQs?
A Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) is a secure digital key that certifies the identity of the holder, issued by a Certifying Authority (CA). It typically contains your identity (name, email, country, APNIC account name and your public key). Digital Certificates use Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) meaning data that has been digitally signed or encrypted by a private key can only be decrypted by its corresponding public key. A digital certificate is an electronic mechanism that establishes your credentials when doing business or other transactions on the Internet.
The Information Technology Act, 2000, India, recognizes the Digital Signature Certificate as a legally valid signature. Digital Signature Certificates are generally a statutory requirement and can be issued, revoked or suspended by an authorized Certifying Authority (CA) under the Ministry of Information Technology.
The three types of certificates are; Signature Certificate, Encryption Certificate and Document Signer Certificate.
The signature certificate is corresponding to the signing private key. It will be used by individuals or organizations for signing purpose.
Encryption Certificate is used to encrypt and decrypt the data. The encryption key pair is used by the subscriber for receiving encrypted messages which is encrypted using subscriber’s public key.
The Document Signer Certificates are issued to organizational software applications for operating automatically and authenticate documents/information attributed to the organization by using Digital Signature applied on the document, documents/Information.