Digital Signature Certificates (DSC) are the digital equivalent (that is electronic format) of physical or paper certificates. Few Examples of physical certificates are drivers' licenses, passports or membership cards. Certificates serve as proof of identity of an individual for a certain purpose; for example, a driver's license identifies someone who can legally drive in a particular country. Likewise, a digital certificate can be presented electronically to prove one’s identity, to access information or services on the Internet or to sign certain documents digitally.
Individual DSC are the digital equivalent (that is electronic format) of physical or paper certificates. ... Certificates serve as proof of identity of an individual for a certain purpose; for example, a driver's license identifies someone who can legally drive in a particular country.
Organizational DSC is issued to authorize signatory of any organization. Class 3 DSC is the most secure certificate that comes with a signature and encryption certificate. A signature certificate is used to sign a document while an encryption certificate is used to encrypt the data.
Digital signature for Foreign Trade (DGFT) ) has now made it easy for the Export and Import Organizations to make the best use of Digital Signature Certificate for the authentication of the documents. DGFT holds a dedicated DGFT site to upload electronic documents in one place. This helps foreign organizations (IET) to keep their online transactions secure. With the increase in the number of online transactions of foreign organizations, DGFT asks the users to pick a class 3 Digital Signature Certificate as it can prevent fraudulent practices easily. You could opt Class 2 and class 3 Digital Signature Certificate for any organization seeking an import or an export license. These applications are submitted by their representative or by signatory authority on behalf of their respective organizations. The legal system of DGFT portals recognizes the DSCs, and thus, all documents signed using a DSC are considered similar to that of the physically signed papers. We also attract the benefits endowed upon them through the Indian Information Technology Act 2000.
Types of DSC
As an applicant, before you proceed towards DSC registration, it is important to know about the types of DSCs. The Certifying Authority issues DSCs that fall into the following three categories:
Tax Audit Once the applicant fills the digital signature certificate subscription form and completes the required procedures, the authority issues Class-1 certificate for both business personnel and private individuals. The information such as name and e-mail address, reflected in these certificates confirms that the application given by the subscriber matches with the information in authentic consumer databases.
Tax Audit This class of DSC is issued for business personnel and private individuals and confirms that the information given is authentic which does not conflict with those given in other consumer databases. The Class-2 certificate becomes useful in a set-up where risks and consequences of data compromise are moderate. That is, where transactions have substantial monetary value or risk of fraud, or when the likelihood of malicious access is substantial.
Tax Audit The DSCs belonging to class-3 are considered as high assurance certificates and are majorly intended for e-commerce applications. Such applications are issued only after the subscriber physically appears before the authority, thereby safeguarding against any fraud. The certificate will be issued to individuals as well as organizations. These certificates can be downloaded in an HSM, that is, a hardware security module. The Certifying Authority issues DSCs that fall into the following three categories: Class-1 certificate, Class-2 certificate, and Class-3 certificate. The DSC authenticates one’s identity electronically. It is an appropriate, time-saving, and secure way of signing documents electronically. Digital Signature is useful for carrying out secure web-based transactions, in eTendering, eProcurement, for Income Tax filing, for signing documents like MS Word, MS Excel and PDFs. Digital Signature is very useful for businesses and individuals because it provides them with high level of security and ensures privacy of the information for their online transactions. Digital signature is protected by several layers of highly intricate encryption.
- DSC - Class-3 - General
- DSC - Class-3 - Combo
- DGFT DSC - 1 Year
- DGFT DSC - 2 Year