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Knowledge-based authentication

 

Adobe Acrobat Sign Guide

What's New

  1. Pre-Release Notes
  2. Release Notes
  3. Important Notifications

Get Started

  1. Quick start guide for administrators
  2. Quick start guide for users
  3. For Developers
  4. Video tutorial library
  5. FAQ

Administer

  1. Admin Console Overview
  2. User Management
    1. Adding users
      1. Add a User
      2. Add Users in Bulk
      3. Add Users from your Directory
      4. Add Users from MS Azure Active Directory
    2. Create function-focused users
      1. Technical accounts - API driven
      2. Service accounts - Manually driven
    3. Check for users with provisioning errors
    4. Change Name/Email Address
    5. Edit a user's group membership
    6. Edit a user's group membership through the group interface
    7. Promote a user to an admin role
    8. User Identity Types and SSO
    9. Switch User Identity
    10. Authenticate Users with MS Azure
    11. Authenticate Users with Google Federation
    12. Product Profiles
    13. Login Experience 
  3. Account/Group Settings
    1. Settings Overview
    2. Global Settings
      1. Account tier and ID
      2. New Recipient Experience
      3. Self Signing Workflows
      4. Send in Bulk
      5. Web Forms
      6. Custom Send Workflows
      7. Power Automate Workflows
      8. Library Documents
      9. Collect form data with agreements
      10. Limited Document Visibility
      11. Attach a PDF copy of the signed agreement 
      12. Include a link in the email
      13. Include an image in the email
      14. Files attached to email will be named as
      15. Attach audit reports to documents
      16. Merge multiple documents into one
      17. Download individual documents
      18. Upload a signed document
      19. Delegation for users in my account
      20. Allow external recipients to delegate
      21. Authority to sign
      22. Authority to send
      23. Power to add Electronic Seals
      24. Set a default time zone
      25. Set a default date format
      26. Users in Multiple Groups (UMG)
        1. Upgrade to use UMG
      27. Group Administrator Permissions
      28. Replace recipient
      29. Audit Report
        1. Overview
        2. Allow unauthenticated access on the transaction verification page
        3. Include reminders
        4. Include view events
        5. Include agreement page/attachment count
      30. In Product Messaging and Guidance
      31. Accessible PDFs
      32. New authoring experience
      33. Healthcare customer
    3. Account Setup
      1. Add logo
      2. Customize company Hostname/URL    
      3. Add company name
      4. Post agreement URL redirect
    4. Signature Preferences
      1. Well formatted signatures
      2. Allow recipients to sign by
      3. Signers can change their name
      4. Allow recipients to use their saved signature
      5. Custom Terms of Use and Consumer Disclosure
      6. Navigate recipients through form fields
      7. Decline to sign
      8. Allow Stamps workflows
      9. Require signers to provide their Title or Company
      10. Allow signers to print and place a written signature
      11. Show messages when e-signing
      12. Require signers to use a mobile device to create their signature
      13. Request IP address from signers
      14. Exclude company name and title from participation stamps
    5. Digital Signatures
      1. Overview
      2. Download and sign with Acrobat
      3. Sign with Cloud Signatures
      4. Include metadata for Identity Providers
      5. Restricted Cloud Signatures Providers
    6. Electronic Seals
    7. Digital Identity
      1. Digital Identity Gateway
      2. Identity Check policy
    8. Report Settings
      1. New report experience
      2. Classic report settings
    9. Security Settings
      1. Single Sign-on settings
      2. Remember-me settings
      3. Login password policy
      4. Login password strength
      5. Web session duration
      6. PDF encryption type
      7. API
      8. User and group info access
      9. Allowed IP Ranges
      10. Account Sharing
      11. Account sharing permissions
      12. Agreement sharing controls
      13. Signer identity verification
      14. Agreement signing password
      15. Document password strength
      16. Block signers by Geolocation
      17. Phone Authentication
      18. Knowledge-Based Authentication (KBA)
      19. Allow page extraction
      20. Document link expiration
      21. Upload a client certificate for webhooks/callbacks
      22. Timestamp
    10. Send settings
      1. Show Send page after login
      2. Require recipient name when sending
      3. Lock name values for known users
      4. Allowed recipient roles
      5. Allow e-Witnesses
      6. Recipient groups
      7. Required fields
      8. Attaching documents
      9. Field flattening
      10. Modify Agreements
      11. Agreement name
      12. Languages
      13. Private messages
      14. Allowed signature types
      15. Reminders
      16. Signed document password protection
      17. Send Agreement Notification through
      18. Signer identification options
        1. Overview
        2. Signing password
        3. One-Time Password via Email
        4. Acrobat Sign authentication
        5. Phone authentication
        6. Cloud-based digital signature
        7. Knowledge-based authentication
        8. Government ID
        9. Signer Identity reports
      19. Content Protection
      20. Enable Notarize transactions
      21. Document Expiration
      22. Preview, position signatures, and add fields
      23. Signing order
      24. Liquid mode
      25. Custom workflow controls
      26. Upload options for the e-sign page
      27. Post-sign confirmation URL redirect
    11. Message Templates
    12. Bio-Pharma Settings
      1. Overview
      2. Enforce identity authentication
      3. Signing reasons
    13. Workflow Integration
    14. Notarization Settings
    15. Payments Integration
    16. Signer Messaging
    17. SAML Settings
      1. SAML Configuration
      2. Install Microsoft Active Directory Federation Service
      3. Install Okta
      4. Install OneLogin
      5. Install Oracle Identity Federation
    18. Data Governance
    19. Time Stamp Settings
    20. External Archive
    21. Account Languages
    22. Email Settings
      1. Email header/footer images
      2. Permit individual user email footers
      3. Customize the Signature Requested email
      4. Customize the To and CC fields
      5. Enable Linkless Notifications
      6. Customize email templates
    23. Migrating from echosign.com to adobesign.com
    24. Configure Options for Recipients
  4. Guidance for regulatory requirements
    1. Accessibility
      1. Accessibility Compliance
      2. Create accessible forms with Acrobat desktop
      3. Create accessible AcroForms
    2. HIPAA
    3. GDPR
      1. GDPR Overview
      2. Redact a user
      3. Redact a user's agreements    
    4. 21 CFR part 11 and EudraLex Annex 11
      1. 21 CRF part 11 validation pack
      2. 21 CFR and EudraLex Annex 11 handbook
      3. Analysis of shared responsibilities
    5. Healthcare customers
    6. IVES support
    7. "Vaulting" agreements
    8. EU/UK considerations
      1. EU/UK Cross-border transactions and eIDAS
      2. HMLR requirements for deeds signed electronically
      3. The impact of Brexit on e-signature laws in the UK
  5. Download Agreements in Bulk
  6. Claim your domain 
  7. Report Abuse links

Send, Sign, and Manage Agreements

  1. Recipient Options
    1. Cancel an email reminder
    2. Options on the e-signing page
      1. Overview of the e-sign page
      2. Open to read the agreement without fields
      3. Decline to sign an agreement
      4. Delegate signing authority
      5. Restart the agreement
      6. Download a PDF of the agreement
      7. View the agreement history
      8. View the agreement messages
      9. Convert from an electronic to a written signature
      10. Convert from a written to an electronic signature 
      11. Navigate the form fields
      12. Clear the data from the form fields
      13. E-sign page magnification and navigation
      14. Change the language used in the agreement tools and information
      15. Review the Legal Notices
      16. Adjust Acrobat Sign Cookie Preferences
  2. Send Agreements  
    1. Send page overview
    2. Send an agreement only to yourself
    3. Send an agreement to others
    4. Written Signatures
    5. Recipient signing order
    6. Send in Bulk
      1. Overview of the Send in Bulk feature
      2. Send in Bulk - Configure a parent template
      3. Send in Bulk - Configure the CSV file
      4. Cancel a Send in Bulk transaction
      5. Add reminders to Send in Bulk
      6. Reporting for Send in Bulk
  3. Authoring fields into documents
    1. In-app authoring environment
      1. Automatic field detection
      2. Drag and drop fields using the authoring environment
      3. Assign form fields to recipients
      4. The Prefill role
      5. Apply fields with a reusable field template
      6. Transfer fields to a new library template
      7. Updated authoring environment when sending agreements
    2. Create forms with text tags
    3. Create forms using Acrobat (AcroForms)
      1. AcroForm creation
      2. Creating accessible PDFs
    4. Fields
      1. Field types
        1. Common field types
        2. In-line Images
        3. Stamp Images
      2. Field content appearance
      3. Field validations
      4. Masked fields values
      5. Setting show/hide conditions
      6. Calculated fields 
    5. Authoring FAQ
  4. Sign Agreements
    1. Sign agreements sent to you
    2. Fill & Sign
    3. Self-signing
  5. Manage Agreements
    1. Manage page overview
    2. Delegate agreements
    3. Replace Recipients
    4. Limit Document Visibility 
    5. Cancel an Agreement 
    6. Create new reminders
    7. Review reminders
    8. Cancel a reminder
    9. Access Power Automate flows
    10. More Actions...
      1. How search works
      2. View an agreement
      3. Create a template from an agreement
      4. Hide/Unhide agreements from view
      5. Upload a signed agreement
      6. Modify a sent agreement's files and fields
      7. Edit a recipient's authentication method
      8. Add or modify an expiration date
      9. Add a Note to the agreement
      10. Share an individual agreement
      11. Unshare an agreement
      12. Download an individual agreement
      13. Download the individual files of an agreement
      14. Download the Audit Report of an agreement
      15. Download the field content of an agreement
  6. Audit Report
  7. Reporting and Data exports
    1. Overview
    2. Grant users access to reporting
    3. Report charts
      1. Create a new report
      2. Agreement Reports
      3. Transaction Reports
      4. Settings Activity Report
      5. Edit a report
    4. Data Exports 
      1. Create a new data export
      2. Edit a data export
      3. Refresh the data export content
      4. Download the data export
    5. Rename a report/export
    6. Duplicate a report/export
    7. Schedule a report/export
    8. Delete a report/export
    9. Check Transaction Usage

Advanced Agreement Capabilities and Workflows

  1. Webforms 
    1. Create a web form
    2. Edit a web form
    3. Disable/Enable a web form
    4. Hide/Unhide a web form
    5. Find the URL or script code 
    6. Prefill web form fields with URL parameters
    7. Save a web form to complete later
    8. Resize a web form
  2. Reusable Templates (Library templates) 
    1. US Government forms in the Acrobat Sign library
    2. Create a library template
    3. Change a library template's name
    4. Change a library template's type
    5. Change a library template's permission level
    6. Copy, edit, and save a shared template
    7. Download the aggregate field data for a library template
  3. Transfer ownership of web forms and library templates
  4. Power Automate Workflows 
    1. Overview of the Power Automate integration and included entitlements
    2. Enable the Power Automate integration
    3. In-Context Actions on the Manage page
    4. Track Power Automate usage
    5. Create a new flow (Examples)
    6. Triggers used for flows
    7. Importing flows from outside Acrobat Sign
    8. Manage flows
    9. Edit flows
    10. Share flows
    11. Disable or Enable flows
    12. Delete flows
    13. Useful Templates
      1. Administrator only
        1. Save all completed documents to SharePoint
        2. Save all completed documents to OneDrive for Business
        3. Save all completed documents to Google Drive
        4. Save all completed documents to DropBox
        5. Save all completed documents to Box
      2. Agreement archival
        1. Save your completed documents to SharePoint
        2. Save your completed documents to One Drive for Business
        3. Save your completed documents to Google Drive
        4. Save your completed documents to DropBox
        5. Save your completed documents to Box
      3. Webform agreement archival
        1. Save completed web form documents to SharePoint Library
        2. Save completed web form documents to OneDrive for Business
        3. Save completed   documents to Google Drive
        4. Save completed web form documents to Box
      4. Agreement data extraction
        1. Extract form field data from your signed document and update Excel sheet
      5. Agreement notifications
        1. Send custom email notifications with your agreement contents and signed agreement
        2. Get your Adobe Acrobat Sign notifications in a Teams Channel
        3. Get your Adobe Acrobat Sign notifications in Slack
        4. Get your Adobe Acrobat Sign notifications in Webex
      6. Agreement generation
        1. Generate document from Power App form and Word template, send for signature
        2. Generate agreement from Word template in OneDrive, and get signature
        3. Generate agreement for selected Excel row, send for review and signature
  5. Custom Send workflows
    1. Custom Send Workflow Overview
    2. Creating a new Send Workflow
    3. Edit a Send Workflow
    4. Activate or Deactivate a Send Workflow
    5. Send an agreement with a Send Workflow
  6. Share users and agreements
    1. Share a user
    2. Share agreements

Integrate with other products

  1.  Acrobat Sign integrations overview 
  2. Acrobat Sign for Salesforce
  3. Acrobat Sign for Microsoft
    1. Acrobat Sign for Microsoft 365
    2. Acrobat Sign for Outlook
    3. Acrobat Sign for Word/PowerPoint
    4. Acrobat Sign for Teams
    5. Acrobat Sign for Microsoft PowerApps and Power Automate
    6. Acrobat Sign Connector for Microsoft Search
    7. Acrobat Sign for Microsoft Dynamics 
    8. Acrobat Sign for Microsoft SharePoint 
  4. Other Integrations
    1. Acrobat Sign for ServiceNow
    2. Acrobat Sign for HR ServiceNow
    3. Acrobat Sign for SAP SuccessFactors
    4. Acrobat Sign for Workday
    5. Acrobat Sign for NetSuite
    6. Acrobat Sign for VeevaVault
    7. Acrobat Sign for Coupa BSM Suite
  5. Partner managed integrations
  6. How to obtain an integration key

Acrobat Sign Developer

  1. REST APIs 
    1. Methods documentation
    2. SDK/Developer Guide
    3. API FAQ    
  2. Webhooks 
    1. Webhook overview
    2. Configure a new webhook
    3. View or edit a webhook
    4. Deactivate or reactivate a webhook
    5. Delete a webhook
    6. Two-way SSL certificates
    7. Webhooks in the API

Support and Troubleshooting

  1. Customer Support Resources 
  2. Enterprise Customer Success Resources 

Enable a method of authentication for recipients in the United States using the recipient's public information sourced from multiple public databases.

Overview

Knowledge-based authentication (KBA) is a premium second-factor authentication method that secures high-level identity verification. KBA is only valid for vetting the identity of US-based recipients.

The authentication process challenges the recipient to enter their first and last name and home address. The recipient may optionally enter the last four digits of their US social security number.

After successfully answering several questions, the recipient can interact with the agreement.

Availability:

Knowledge-based authentication is available for enterprise license plans only.

KBA is a premium authentication method that has a per-use charge:

  • Transactions must be purchased through your Adobe sales representative.
  • Transactions are an account-level resource. All groups consume from the same global pool.

Configuration scope:

The feature can be enabled at the account and group levels.

Note:

KBA is only applicable to US-based recipients.

How it's used

When the recipient accesses the Review and sign link, they are delivered to the KBA identity verification page, where they are prompted to enter their name and address:

The information entered is used to query multiple public databases, generating a list of three to four nontrivial questions for the recipient.

Example questions:

  • Select the correct house number of the address you shared with {some name}
  • Which of the following aircraft have you owned
  • In which of the following cities have you attended college
  • From whom did you purchase the property {some address}
  • Which age range matches the age of {some name}

 

Once the authentication is passed, the recipient can interact with the agreement.

If the recipient closes the agreement for any reason before completing their action, they must re-authenticate.

To secure against brute force attempts to authenticate, the KBA method can be configured to cancel the agreement after a defined number of failed attempts.

Configuring the Knowledge-Based Authentication method when composing a new agreement

When KBA is enabled, the sender can select it from the Authentication drop-down just to the right of the recipient's email address:

Select the authenticaation method

An optional configuration of the KBA method may require that the sender insert the recipient's Name.

This option ensures that the name of the recipient remains consistent throughout the lifespan of the transaction.

KBA with enforced name values

Note:

If KBA is not an option for the sender, then the authentication method isn't enabled for the group from which the user is sending.

Consumption of premium authentication transactions

As a premium authentication method, KBA transactions must be purchased and available to the account before agreements can be sent with KBA configured.

KBA transactions are consumed on a per-recipient basis.

e.g., An agreement configured with three recipients authenticating by KBA consumes three authentication transactions.

 

Configuring an agreement with multiple recipients decrements one transaction for each recipient authenticating by KBA from the total volume available to the account.

  • Canceling a Draft agreement with KBA configured returns all KBA authentication transactions back to the total volume available for the account.
  • Canceling an In-progress transaction does not return the authentication transaction to the total volume available for the account.
  • Changing an authentication method to KBA (from any other way) consumes one transaction.
    • If you change the same recipient back and forth between KBA and other methods, you only consume one transaction total.
  • Changing the authentication method from KBA to another method does not return the transaction.
  • Each recipient authenticating with KBA consumes only one transaction, no matter how many times they attempt the process.

 

Track available volume

To monitor the volume of KBA transactions available to the account:

  • Navigate to Send Settings > Signer Identification Options
  • Select the Track Usage link:
The Send Settings page with the Track Usage highlighted for KBA

Accounts that have purchased the service under the VIP licensing program have a modified format Track Usage pop-out to represent better the number of transactions within the context of their licensing scheme.  

VIP format for transaction consumption

Audit Report

A successful KBA identity verification is explicitly logged in the audit report with the authentication token provided by LexisNexis.

KBA Audit report - verified id

If the agreement is canceled due to the recipient being unable to authenticate, the reason is explicitly stated:

KBA Audit report - fgailed id

Best Practices and Considerations

  • If second-factor signature authentication isn't required for your internal signatures, consider the Acrobat Sign Authentication method instead of KBA to reduce the friction of signing and save on the consumption of the premium authentication transactions.

Configuration Options

Knowledge-based authentication has two sets of controls, which are available to be configured at the account and group levels:

  • Send Settings control the sender's access to and configuration of the KBA option.
  • Security Settings govern the recipient's experience insofar as how many attempts they can make before the agreement is canceled.

Enable the authentication method under Send Settings

The option to use knowledge-based authentication can be enabled for senders by navigating to Send Settings > Signer Identification Options

  • Knowledge-based authentication checkbox - When checked, KBA is an available option for the agreements composed in the group.
  • (Optional) Require signer name on the Send page - When checked, senders must provide the recipient's Name. This name value persists throughout the signature cycle; the recipient cannot change it.
    • Enabling this option prevents delegation of the agreement by the recipient (including auto-delegation).
    • Replace Signer will work for the sender from the modern Manage page.
  • (Optional) Once KBA is enabled, you can define it as the default method when composing a new agreement.
  • Save the change to the page.
Send Settings page highli8ghting the KBA identity authentication controls

Configure the Security Settings

Knowledge-Based Authentication has three configurable options that can be found on the Security Settings page:

  • Restrict number of attempts - Enabled by default, this checkbox enables the security option to cancel the agreement if a recipient fails to authenticate within the defined number of. If disabled, recipients can try to authenticate an unlimited number of times. 
    • Allow Signer XX attempts to validate their identity before cancelling the agreement - The admin can enter any number to limit the number of attempts to authenticate. Once the number of attempts is crossed, the agreement is automatically canceled.
  • Knowledge-Based Authentication difficulty level - Defines the complexity of the validation process:
    • Default - Signers will be presented with three questions and must answer them correctly. If they only answer two correctly, they will be given two more questions and required to answer them correctly.
    • Hard - Signers will be presented with four questions and must answer them correctly. If they only answer three correctly, they will be given two more questions and required to answer them correctly.
KBA security controls

Note:

If you don't see the settings in your menu, verify that the authentication method is enabled on the Send Settings page.

Automatic agreement cancellation when a recipient fails to authenticate

If the settings restrict the number of KBA authentication attempts, and the recipient fails to authenticate that number of times, the agreement is automatically canceled.

The agreement's originator is sent an email announcing the cancellation with a note identifying the recipient who failed to authenticate.

No other parties are notified.

Canceled agreement due to ID failure

 Adobe

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Adobe MAX
The Creativity Conference

Oct 14–16 Miami Beach and online

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The Creativity Conference

Oct 14–16 Miami Beach and online