Understanding the validation process

Not all .pdf documents need to be signed. Those that need signatures usually involve contracts, purchases, permits, and so on. Let’s see how the process of validation happens. Without validation, all the prior work to ensure security is not very meaningful.

When a signed document is received, validation of the signature(s) confirms the identity of the signer and the authenticity of the content signed. Once set up, validation takes place automatically. There are two aspects of validation:

• Confirmation that the signer’s certificate exists in the list of trusted identities. In our example, this would be the local hard drive Security folder for Acrobat. It also validates that the certificate is not expired and that it fits the requirements of the Acrobat or Reader configuration.
• Verification of document integrity and confirmation that the signed content was not changed after it was signed. If the content does change, the...