Section 10.6. Authentication and Digital Signature

10.6. Authentication and Digital Signature

A digital signature is one of the most important required security measures. Much like a person's signature on a document, a digital signature on a message is required for the authentication and identification of the right sender. The digital signature is supposed to be unique to an individual and serves as a means of identifying the sender. An electronic signature is not as easy as it was with the paper-based system. The digital signature requires a great deal of study, research, and skill. Even if these requirements are met, there is no guarantee that all the security requirements have been met.

The technical method of providing a sender's authentication is performed through cryptography. Many cryptographic mechanisms have been developed. Among them, the RSA algorithm implements both encryption and digital signature. When RSA is applied, the message is encrypted with the sender's private key. Thus, the entire encrypted message serves as a digital signature. This means that at the receiving end, the receiver can decrypt it, using the public key. This authenticates that the packet comes from the right user .