Information about USB Token for Digital Signature

These days security is main concerns especially when it comes to secure legal documents. So Digital Certificate is such legal document which is highly sensitive and should be more stores somewhere safely. Now there is a password-protected hardware device called USB Tokens which stores digital signature more securely.

USB Token provides facilities of durability and portability with security and ensures your Digital Certificate saves securely inside, can never be copied out of the token.

The USB tokens come with inbuilt software program to execute digital signature. USB token, e-token, dongle and digital signature token are few popular term in market.

Having a USB token is not compulsory but it is recommended to get a USB token for security reasons.

Who Can Apply for a Digital Signature Certificate?

The following can make an application to a Certifying Authority for the issuance of a digital signature certificate:

·         Individuals including foreign nationals
·         Hindu Undivided Family
·         Company (Directors and/or other authorized personnel)
·         Firm partners
·         Body of individuals (Members)

Symmetric Key Encryption and Authenticity of Message

Alice can employ symmetric key encryption to authenticate ibe message by generating ciphertext using her key for the entire plaintext |Bob, Can you provide me math lesson? Yes, why not. Alice]. She then sends the plaintext and a segment of the ciphertext to Bob. The segment of the ciphertext is identified as 'Message Authentication Code (MAC)* (a MAC is a function that takes a variable-length input and a key to produce a fixed-length output). This is shown in Figure belwo

Boh is able 10 authenticate the message that has been sent by Alice by generating the ciphertext using his key; he selects the same segment of the ciphertext and compare it with the MAC he received. This, however, only establishes the authenticity of the message source.

Symmetric Key Encryption and Integrity of Message

Alice can provide integrity to the message by applying secured Mashed MAC. Secured hash function takes a stream of data (message) and reduces tt to a fixed size through a one-way mathematical function. The result is called a message digest*; it is also called fingerprint or signature* of the data because the message digest can he reproduced by any party with the same stream of data, bin it is virtually impossible to create a different stream of data that produces the same message digest. Alice creates a message digest by applying Secure Hash Algorithm (SUA-1 specified in FIPSI80-) (N1ST96H or Message Digest |MD-5| and her secret-key to the message for Bob. Alice then transmits the message to Bob with the message and message digest.

 Advantages of using a USB Token for Digital Signature

A digital signature resides in the browser (e.g. Internet Explorer)of your system. Keeping it on your system means that it can be misused if your system is accessed by an unauthorized person. Also, the digital signature is lost if your browser (e.g. Internet Explorer) is changed or if your system is formatted.

Compared to this, a digital signature is very secure when it resides on the USB token since it is a password-protected device. The token also offers the convenience of portability since it can be plugged to the USB port of any system to use the digital signature.

Limitations and Drawbacks of Symmetric Key Cryptography

A serious limitation of secret-key encryption methodology is (hut it does not support non-repudiation. It is possible for une party lo falsely claim that it received a message I'm the other party as it has the key. It is, therefore, considered fairly weak on non-repudiation count. Scalability is one of the inherent problems with symmetric cryptography. In order for the communications to be confidential, the exchange of the key shared secret must be done securely. Secure distribution of secret-key and shared secret-key employing courier is not feasible when the number of different people with whom you want to communicate securely escalates beyond a manageable number. Hence, secret-key encryption is not recommended in situations where the number of parties involved is large, as each one would require a different key to ensure that each one is able to exchange the message meant for them.

Reach us to get Gemalto USB Token for Digital signatures. This USB Token store your Digital Certificate securely.