How to implement digital signature with my existing web project

by

The security restrictions of browsers do not allow javascript access to the system certificate keystore or smart cards. Formerly java applets could be used, but with the latest browser updates it is no longer possible.

Current solutions for digital signature in browsers require the installation of a desktop software on the user’s computer. The operating process is as follows:

Installation: The user installs the desktop software on his computer. The software installs a self-signed certificate and includes an embedded browser that listens on a computer port and runs it as a service

  1. The web application requests a signature to the local software using a secure web connection. For example https://localhost:1234/sign?doc=xxxx. The browser waits for the result

  2. The local application receives the document, asks the user to select the certificate or enter the card and make the signature. As it is a local application, there are no security restrictions

  3. The web application receives the result. It can query the local application through a REST service or open a websocket.

The concept is simple (a web application that requests the signature to a local application), but the construction of an application of this type is quite complex because you have to take into account many other factors:

  • Software installation and distribution

  • Security and Encryption

  • Digital signature formats: XAdES, CAdES, PAdES etc. They can be implemented in the application or use a signature service in 3 phases, where the documents are on the server and a single hash is signed locally

So I recommend using an existing solution:

  • @firma + Autofirma: Open-source solution promoted and used by the public administration in Spain

  • SD-DSS + nexU(lowina): Open-source solution promoted by the European Commision. Check the demo here

  • chrome token signing: Chrome and Firefox extension for signing with your eID on the web developed for the Estonian government

Sinadura is also an open-source initiative, and from what I’ve seen it works in a similar way, but I do not know if it has important references and I have not found the API

More Related Contents:

  1. how to add blank page in digitally signed pdf using java?
  2. Signing PDFs on a server document using a signature from the user
  3. Loading raw 64-byte long ECDSA public key in Java
  4. Using SHA1 and RSA with java.security.Signature vs. MessageDigest and Cipher
  5. How to convert a date in this format (Tue Jul 13 00:00:00 CEST 2010) to a Java Date (The string comes from an alfresco property)
  6. pdfBox – Signature validity checkmark not visible in Acrobat reader
  7. Auto-generation of email with username and random password on creation of new user
  8. How to sign string with private key
  9. How to return an array with one element larger? [duplicate]
  10. Java error: Implicit super constructor is undefined for default constructor
  11. How to convert a Hibernate proxy to a real entity object
  12. Android load from URL to Bitmap
  13. Is it possible to pass arithmetic operators to a method in java?
  14. how to add unicode in truetype0font on pdfbox 2.0.0?
  15. Why can’t a Generic Type Parameter have a lower bound in Java?
  16. Is it possible to mix –class-path and –module-path in javac (JDK 9)?
  17. Cancelling a long running regex match?
  18. Difference between “this” and”super” keywords in Java
  19. Matrix Multiplication in Apache Spark [closed]
  20. Cordova Could not reserve enough space for 2097152KB object heap
  21. Is not an enclosing class Java
  22. Driver.getConnection hangs using SQLServer driver and Java 1.6.0_29
  23. What is local/remote and no-interface view in EJB?
  24. What are mock objects in Java?
  25. Common Access Card (CAC) Authentication Using Java
  26. How to get server certificate chain then verify it’s valid and trusted in Java
  27. Backreferences in lookbehind
  28. Redirecting back to actual page what they were viewing before login
  29. How to test if a JSONObject is null or doesn’t exist
  30. Recursive initializer works when I add “this”?

Leave a Comment