What requirements must a digital signature meet?

Lawyer Nguyen Thi Hoai Anh, YouMe Law Firm LLC replied:

Clause 1 and Clause 3, Article 22 of the Law on Electronic Transactions 2023 stipulates on electronic signatures as follows:

1. Electronic signatures are classified according to their scope of use, including:

a) A specialized electronic signature is an electronic signature created and used exclusively by an agency or organization for the activities of that agency or organization in accordance with its functions and tasks;

b) A public digital signature is a digital signature used in public activities and guaranteed by a public digital signature certificate;

c) A digital signature used exclusively for public service is a digital signature used in public service activities and is guaranteed by a digital signature certificate used exclusively for public service.

3. A digital signature is an electronic signature that meets the following requirements:

a) Confirm the signatory and confirm the signatory's acceptance of the data message;

b) The data used to create the digital signature is only associated with the content of the approved data message;

c) The data used to create the digital signature is only under the control of the signatory at the time of signing;

d) Any changes to the data message after the time of signing can be detected;

d) Must be secured by a digital signature certificate. In case of a digital signature used exclusively for public purposes, it must be secured by a digital signature certificate of an organization providing digital signature certification services for public purposes. In case of a public digital signature, it must be secured by a digital signature certificate of an organization providing public digital signature certification services;

e) The means of creating digital signatures must ensure that the data used to create digital signatures is not disclosed, collected, or used for the purpose of forging signatures; ensure that the data used to create digital signatures can only be used once; and that the data to be signed is not changed.

Thus, digital signatures must fully meet the requirements as prescribed above.