The digital signature is making its way into Austria's law firms.

Declarations, resolutions and contracts - all these are documents that have to be signed by one or more people. Even one document on which three people have to sign by analog means means a total time expenditure of around 45 minutes: This includes printing in triplicate, sending documents through the mail, or coordinating a joint appointment for signatures. This waste of resources is dispensable.

In the private sector, the digital signature has already established itself in Austria in the form of the "cell phone signature". For several years, many Austrian citizens have been using this free government service.

However, "only" the digital signature alone is usually insufficient in the business environment. There is a lack of technical possibilities, a tool or a platform that can map the use cases and "signature runs" specific to an industry or a company. An associated common "dashboard" provides a good overview of important documents. This requires a central administration of all users and a rights and role management. This also brings a lot of advantages.

In many companies, regardless of size or industry, a digital signature platform is already an integral part of many standard workflows. This legally recognized technology is already being used in the legal sector, in taxation, in the financial sector, but also by large international companies with strict IT guidelines and in the public sector.

4 The qualified signature: no mystery

Even though the relevant specialist media are always trying to cast the qualified electronic signature in the most complex and technical light possible, we at sproof have made it our business to reveal the supposed "mystery" - in a nutshell.

As for many other electronic legal or banking transactions, you must be able to prove your own identity with 100% certainty. This is done initially via a short (approx. 10 minute video identification procedure), in which your personal data and also biometric data are checked by a state-approved service (Trust Service Provider).

After that, you will be able to use a cell phone app to additionally verify every digital signature you make. In addition to your e-mail address, which you need anyway to sign and obtain signatures, your cell phone is thus your second security factor.

The signed documents themselves are digitally encrypted using cryptographic methods. Only the owners of a document, or those who have been invited to sign it, can edit the document or just sign it. Each document is provided with a unique cryptographic key at any time, which is impossible for any human or computer to see. The validity and evidential value of the document is also independent of the signature platform used, since the cryptographic key (or "hash value") is imprinted in the pdf. file itself. Consequently, any printing out and physical storage of the document is also pointless, since the traceability expires when the document is printed out.

In order to verify the validity of an electronic signature and conformity as described above, the signed (digital!) document can be verified using the national signature verification services, e.g. via the Communications Authority Austria: rtr.at
Platforms such as sproof as a platform itself offers an integrated verification service.

In short: The qualified digital signature is 100% forgery-proof & legally valid. A signature made by hand is also 100% legally valid, but never 100% forgery-proof.

5 It Doesn't Take Much to Get Started with the Qualified Digital Signature

Digital signatures are technically demanding and require a special degree of responsibility from the manufacturer's point of view - after all, the signatures generated with them offer the highest degree of bindingness. However, a broad spectrum of users, from lawyers to secretaries to clients, must be able to work with them easily, quickly and intuitively.

The technical complexity is completely hidden in sproof and a simple and low-threshold access is created. Philipp Gernerth is responsible for UI and UX (User Interface and User Experience) at sproof.

"We are developing a modern, technically highly sophisticated product that offers the highest security and commitment guarantees. Nevertheless, it has to be as simple as possible and intuitive to use. Otherwise we miss the target," explains Philipp Gernerth, who is responsible for UX (user experience) and UI (usability) at sproof.

From a user perspective, the qualified electronic signature thus essentially means the following:

• You have a document to sign, which is available as a Word or PDF document. You load this into the signature software in order to sign it. You can find the signature software at sign.sproof.io . You can start at any time free of charge.

• A qualified electronic signature requires a one-time identification. This means you have to identify yourself in a short video call ("Video-Ident-Procedure") and show your (valid) passport or ID card there. This identification is only necessary once and is then valid for five years or (if this occurs earlier) until the expiration of your identification document.

• As part of the identification process, you install an app on your cell phone or alternatively -- if you cannot or do not want to install the app -- you will later receive a one-time code via SMS.

• To sign a document, you select the position of your digital signature and optionally upload an image of your handwritten signature. Now you authorize the signature on the cell phone via the app or enter the one-time code received via SMS. The image of your signature has no legal relevance here, but enables a common and familiar representation of the signature. The legally binding signature is applied "invisibly" in the background in purely digital form. The document is now digitally signed in a legally valid manner. With sproof, the document is also converted into the PDF/A format commonly used and required by attorneys. You, your clients or the court can check the conformity of the document and the electronic signature at any time, e.g. at the state testing service of the RTR.