A digital signature is an electronic authentication method for digital documents such as e-mails or other electronic documents (e.g Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

Its purpose is to ensure that a message or a document actually originates from a specific person and, most importantly, that it was not subsequently changed by a third party.

Of course, a digital signature should primarily fulfill one or more purposes that add value to all parties involved.

This includes:

A certificate for a digital signature offers a whole range of services. By the way, these are monitored by the Federal Network Agency, which also demands and checks compliance with certain rules, especially with regard to the privacy of such services.

Some services to which Microsoft itself refers are:

• Global Sign: to the Website  >>>
• Comodo: to the Website >>>
• IdenTrust: to the Website >>>

These certification offices are roughly comparable to a notary who ensures the legitimacy of a person and then issue a corresponding certificate. Unfortunately it is that you do not deserve the trust in real life but have to buy.

Before you can digitally sign your Word document, you must first install your vendor’s certificate in accordance with its instructions. Mostly it is an import file, or better still an installation file which makes the installation automatically.

• Next, add a signature line to your Word document as follows:
• Position the cursor at the position in the document where you want to insert the signature line
• Then on the “Insert” tab click on “Signature Line” and then on “Microsoft Office Signature Line”
• Now enter your name, position and e-mail address and confirm with “OK”

See picture: (click to enlarge)

Next, select the option “Sign” in the context menu of the signature line (right mouse button).
(works only if you have previously installed a certificate.)

• Now enter your name in the box next to the X.
• In order for the whole thing to look reasonable (but not necessarily) you can now add a scanned image to your signature by clicking on “Add Image” and then selecting the appropriate image file on your PC.

See picture: (click to enlarge)

Of course, it is not always the case that one would like to have a signature line visible in the document when you want to digitally sign a document.

That’s why you can also sign your Word document invisibly. To do this, just go to “File” on the File tab and then select “Add Digital Signature”.

See picture: (click to enlarge)

This means that your document is still digitally signed, and recognizable to other users in the status bar (bottom) of Word by the corresponding icon, but the whole just without visible signature line is not really appropriate and desirable everywhere.

See picture: (click to enlarge)

Just as easy as with Word it works (with a few deviations) in itself with the digital signature even under Outlook 2016.
(Of course, it is necessary to ask for a ditital ID of a corresponding provider)

To do this, go to the “Trust Center” in Outlook via the tab “File” and “Options” and then into the “Settings for the Trust Center”.

Next, you can use the E-mail Security tab to install a digital signature from a file (XYZ.pfx).

See picture: (click to enlarge)

After you install the digital signature, you can paste it later in the Signatures section of emails.

See picture: (click to enlarge)

Conclusion:

Digitization is finding its way into more and more areas and demands a high degree of individual responsibility, especially when dealing with our data, the way we communicate with each other and exchanging information in the form of documents. This also includes protective measures (where necessary) within the scope of the possibilities.

There can not and will never be 100% protection. And even a digital signature will never be able to exclude all risks. But it makes it harder for fraudsters to manipulate, and creates a bit more security.