PAdES
PAdES stands for PDF Advanced Electronic Signatures and is a lot of restrictions and extensions to PDF files, to adapt them for electronic signatures. The technical specification was first published by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI ) as TS 102 778. Later it was divided into six parts.
Description
While PDF and ISO 32000-1 provide a framework to digitally sign documents, PAdES specifies precise profiles that can be used with the EU Directive 1999/93/EC. A significant advantage of PAdES is that electronically signed documents remain valid long, even when the underlying algorithms are broken. PAdES recognizes that digitally signed documents are archived for many years. It must be possible at any time in the future to verify the signature of the document. This concept is known as long-term validation (LTV ).
The PAdES standard ( ETSI Technical Specification ( TS) 102 778 ) introduces a number of adaptations and extensions to PDF. Thus, the requirements of the directive will be implemented. ETSI wants to bring this European - specific elements back into the new ISO standard for PDF. This is called ISO 32000-2.
For PDF documents, the signature is part of the PDF file. This file can be easily copied, stored, and distributed. The signature can appear similar to a form field in the document. An advantage of PAdES is that it requires no extra software. It can be used simply by existing programs.
The PAdES standard (ETSI TS 102 778 )
The technical specification of PAdES currently consists of six parts:
- Part 1: PAdES Overview - a framework document for PAdES
- Part 2: PAdES Basic - Profile based on ISO 32000-1
- Part 3: Enhanced PAdES - PAdES -Basic Electronic Signatures and PAdES - Explicit Policy Electronic Signatures Profiles
- Part 4: PAdES Long Term - PAdES - Long Term Validation profiles
- Part 5: PAdES for XML Content - Profiles for XAdES signatures of XML content in PDF files
- Part 6: Visual representations of electronic signatures