Electronic Signature Creation

[Eclipse]

If anyone would like an electronic version of their signature created for them, PM me with an email.

I will need a clear, bright,  scan or photo (even most cell phone cameras) of your signature, preferably black ink on white paper,
about 2-3 times normal size.

I'll clean it up and create a transparent .gif which can be used in most word processors including Word and Acrobat.

The only charge will be you have to trust me with your sig.  Over the years I've done this for all my CC's and staff, and lots
of people throughout the wing.

[Persona non grata]

Thats very kind of you.......I waste a lot of ink printing out forms just to sign them.  I will send you a PM once I get  to a scanner or I phone.

PS  If you are from South Africa and want my social security # because I won the lotto there, I will have to find my card because  I cant remember my #.

[dcastor]

Just to let you know, what Eclipse is offering is not a true "electronic signature".  A true electronic signature isn't just an image of one's signature, it requires attaching to the document a "hash" of the document itself which is essentially an encryption function that is a summary of the information in the document.  This prevents anyone from making changes to the document after you've signed it.  It also prevents people from taking the electronic signature from a document you've signed and adding it to one you wouldn't sign or maybe have never seen.

To use a true electronic signature in Office 2007 here's advice.  If you don't use Office 2007, you should be able to find similar advice on the software package you do use.  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc545901%28office.12%29.aspx

[Eclipse]

Just to let you know, what Eclipse is offering is not a true "electronic signature".  A true electronic signature isn't just an image of one's signature, it requires attaching to the document a "hash" of the document itself which is essentially an encryption function that is a summary of the information in the document.  This prevents anyone from making changes to the document after you've signed it.

A true digital or electronic signature requires a third-party verification service or server which authenticates the author's approval without necessarily
seeing anything in "writing".  That is far beyond CAP's needs and capabilities today.

What I am offering is a simple means to affix a facsimile of one's "wet" signature to a document so it can be pdf'ed and moved up the chain without printing.  More than sufficient for a CAP member's approval needs.  In 99% of the cases today, members complete a document online, then print it, scan it, and re-pdf it so they can move it forward.  This eliminates that extra work.

It also prevents people from taking the electronic signature from a document you've signed and adding it to one you wouldn't sign or maybe have never seen.

No, it does not.  it might make it more difficult for an AOL user, but for anyone with the technical know-how of a high-school student, there is no
such thing as a "locked" Office document, and the belief that there is gives a lot of users a false sense of security.  Printing a doc to PDF provides about
the same level of security as "locking" an Office document with a lot less hassle.

[dcastor]

Eclipse,

It also prevents people from taking the electronic signature from a document you've signed and adding it to one you wouldn't sign or maybe have never seen.

No, it does not.  it might make it more difficult for an AOL user, but for anyone with the technical know-how of a high-school student, there is no such thing as a "locked" Office document, and the belief that there is gives a lot of users a false sense of security.  Printing a doc to PDF provides about the same level of security as "locking" an Office document with a lot less hassle.

In fact it does, an electronically signed document is not the same as a "locked" Office Document. The link I provided is advice from Microsoft on how to electronically sign a document in Office, not the process for applying the lock function, which I agree is not secure.

For a true electronic signature, which is implemented by a number of vendors (including Adobe for PDF and Microsoft for Office 2007 and later) a snapshot of the form (before being signed) is created, this snapshot is encrypted using the sender's private key and then sent along with the document to the recipient.  The recipient decrypts the snapshot and compares it to the document they received. 

If someone with (to use your words) "the "technical know-how of a high school student" simply pulled this signature off and attached it to a new or modified document,  when the snapshot is decrypted by the recipient, the program used would alert the recipient the signature is not valid.  If you know of a way around a true digital signature, you should be working for the NSA.

FYI, I hold a Master's degree in Information Assurance, I am a Certified Information System Security Professional and I am a Cyberspace Control Officer in the Air Force.  This is what I do for a living.

Dave Castor

Reference: http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/digital-signature.

[Extremepredjudice]

I think everyone is over thinking stuff...

Eclipse is offering to make your signature digital, to save ink.
Mostly for signing releases, and other forms that require signatures.

Castor seems to be talking about encryptions, and high security envelops.

[dcastor]

I understand what Eclipse is offering and if you look at my original posting I said, "Just to let you know, what Eclipse is offering is not a true 'electronic signature'".  I never said CAP wouldn't accept what Eclipse is offering, I just don't want people thinking that a scanned image of an ink signature is a true "digital signature".

I think CAP shouldn't be in the habit of accepting scanned images including a wet ink signature.  Or at the very least, we should identify those documents where it's okay to have a scanned wet ink image and those where it's not.  If a document requires a commander's signature (or anyone's for that matter), I hope  there was a good reason they asked him or her to sign it.  If you are going to make it this easy for someone to submit a document with a forged signature, then let's just remove the requirement to sign the document altogether.  Someone could create significant havoc on a squadron by simply scanning a copy of my signature and then starting to send forged PD reports, form 2Bs or 2As to national without a commander's knowledge.

It isn't that hard to implement a true digital signature process.  Yes, there is a small cost involved, but the digital signature could be used for other things besides CAP.  I don't know what digital signatures cost, but I'm guessing it's far less than what I pay for a month of squadron dues, and not everyone would need one...commander yes, and maybe senior members with staff positions and higher.

extremepred, as an assistant court clerk or whatever it is you do, you of all people should know the power of a signature, and a scanned signature is just not the same thing.

Just my $.02

Dave

[AirDX]

The routine CAP paperwork and memos I push around don't require anything more that a //SIGNED// typed in signature box.  I do this all the time for my unit commander; things that need to be signed higher up the food chain I forward via e-mail to whoever it needs to go to, and they can do whatever they need - print it out and sign it pen-and-ink, or whatever is required at their level.  Personally, I think scanning an image of your pen-and-ink signature and inserting it in a Word document is nice and all, but hardly necessary - and is not an electronic signature at all, as commonly defined.

As Dave Castor says, an actual digital signature is another animal  - I work for the Air Force as well, and electronically sign documents all the time - that process requires a document that will accept that, and my CAC card with security certificates and my PIN number.  Don't ever confuse that with a picture of your pen-and-ink signature.

[JeffDG]

The routine CAP paperwork and memos I push around don't require anything more that a //SIGNED// typed in signature box.  I do this all the time for my unit commander; things that need to be signed higher up the food chain I forward via e-mail to whoever it needs to go to, and they can do whatever they need - print it out and sign it pen-and-ink, or whatever is required at their level.  Personally, I think scanning an image of your pen-and-ink signature and inserting it in a Word document is nice and all, but hardly necessary - and is not an electronic signature at all, as commonly defined.

As Dave Castor says, an actual digital signature is another animal  - I work for the Air Force as well, and electronically sign documents all the time - that process requires a document that will accept that, and my CAC card with security certificates and my PIN number.  Don't ever confuse that with a picture of your pen-and-ink signature.

Actually, your //SIGNED// under federal law is an electronic signature:

The term "electronic signature" means an electronic sound, symbol, or process, attached to or logically associated with a contract or other record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/15/usc_sec_15_00007006----000-.html