FAQ - Signatur

The environment needing to be set up depends primarily on whether the electronic signature will be created by the computer, or using a smart card or a hardware security module.

You always need a computer with an operating system and at least one application enabled for signatures installed (e.g. Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, OpenOffice.org, Adobe Acrobat). You also need signature creation data (i.e. a private key for creating the signature) and a certificate issued by a trust service provider. How you obtain the signature creation data and the matching certificate depend on the particular trust service. Details are available from the policy statement of the particular trust service (e.g. the certificate policy and the certification practice statement).

To create a signature using a smart card, you first of all need a suitable smart card reader. The website of the trust service lists the dealers selling suitable readers. Additional software also needs to be installed and configured in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions:

• Driver for the smart card reader (supplied with the device or available from the manufacturer’s website)
• Any components required for integrating the smart card with applications enabled for signatures
• Secure viewer and/or Citizen Card Environment

A smart card reader is not required for verifying electronic signatures (e.g. for recipients of invoices transmitted by electronic means). Standard software applications (e.g. various mail clients or Adobe Reader) support signature verification in many cases.

Further information can be found by following these links:

• Uses of electronic signatures
• What later effort is required to maintain the environment?
• What expense is incurred by setting up the environment on the user side?