Adobe Acrobat Sign FAQ
Yes.
E-signatures are legal in many countries around the world. For more information, please see our Global e-signature laws pages from the Adobe Trust Center.
Types of electronic signatures and seals available from Adobe include:
- Basic signatures - A basic signature is the simplest form of an electronic signature where the signer is primarily identified via an e-mail address. This type of signature may also include some additional signer authentication such as a one-time password (OTP) sent to a mobile phone. Basic signatures may be created by typing a name in a signature field, using an image of a handwritten signature, or by drawing on a touch screen.
- Verified signatures - A verified signature is an electronic signature that is created after the signer’s identity is verified or re-confirmed by a trusted 3rd party during the signing process. Verified signatures may include a wide range of identification experiences and levels of assurance (LoA), but all require the signer to engage with an identity provider (IdP) such as a bank, government, or other identity provider. Verified signatures are supported by a Signer Identification Report (SIR), which includes details from the IdP on a successful signer identification.
- Digital signatures - A digital signature is a more secure electronic signature that is generated using a digital certificate and cryptographically bound to the document using public key infrastructure (PKI). The digital certificate is unique to the signer and obtained from a trusted 3rd party such as a trust service provider (TSP) or certificate authority (CA) after verification of the signer’s identity.
- Cloud signatures - A cloud signature is a digital signature where the signer’s digital certificate is managed by a trust service provider (TSP) in the cloud. Cloud signatures rely on the global open standard created by the Cloud Signature Consortium (CSC). Compared to a traditional digital signature applied using a physical smart card or USB token, a cloud signature makes it easy to apply trusted digital signatures directly from a mobile device or a Web browser.
- Electronic seal - An electronic seal or e-seal is used by a legal entity such as a business or organization to certify the origin, authenticity, and integrity of documents. Electronic seals may provide strong legal evidence that the document has not been altered and originated from the entity identified by the digital sealing certificate.
For security information on Adobe Acrobat Sign as well as additional information on how Adobe protects your documents, data, and personal information, please visit the Adobe Trust Center.
For information on Acrobat Sign compliance, please see the Adobe Compliance Certifications, Standards, and Regulations list in the Adobe Trust Center.
For information on accessibility conformance, please view the accessibility conformance reports for Adobe solutions which are available in the Adobe Trust Center.
For digital signatures, Acrobat Sign supports the full range of secure signature creation devices such as USB tokens, smart cards, and digital certificates hosted in the cloud. Additionally, you can work with the trust service provider (TSP), certificate authority (CA), or timestamp authority of your choice from the European Union Trusted Lists (EUTL) and the Adobe Approved Trust List (AATL).
Acrobat Sign data centers are hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure in countries around the world. For more information, please see the Acrobat Sign data centers page.
Adobe Acrobat Sign is a global offering with architecture that best serves our global customer base and is not set up and optimized to support certain country-specific requirements.
Adobe does not host Acrobat Sign on a server located in China to serve Chinese users. Accordingly, we don't support the use of Acrobat Sign with use cases that contemplate access and use in China.
Adobe Acrobat Sign Solutions are hosted on 2 or 3 simultaneously active datacenters in a multi-layered redundancy model that uses automated processes to redirect traffic away from an application server, database, or data center that is experiencing an outage. Additionally, in certain regions, passive data center configurations are maintained in to provide for disaster recovery. For more information, please view the Adobe Acrobat Sign Solutions data centers page.
When hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS), customer transaction data, documents, and metadata are securely stored in Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) and Elastic Block Store (EBS). When hosted by Microsoft Azure, customer transaction data, documents, and metadata are securely stored in Azure Zone Redundant Storage (ZRS) and Azure Local Redundant Storage (LRS). For more information, identify your company’s primary data center location and view the Adobe Acrobat Sign Solutions data centers page.
Acrobat Sign Solutions customers manage any personal data collected in connection to a signed document. To help ensure that all signers have the opportunity to download and save a copy of a fully executed agreement, customers can configure data governance to automatically delete completed agreements from the Adobe Acrobat Sign Solutions after 14 days. For more information on Adobe personal data policies, please view the Adobe Privacy Center.
Adobe’s global expertise, rigorous security practices, and continuous monitoring of the legal landscape helps our customers confidently maintain compliance with government and industry regulations around the world. Although unlikely, in case of a legal challenge Adobe may assist customers and defend the legality of its e-signatures. At the discretion of Adobe, assistance may include: