Today, eSignatures are an everyday part of business, helping you streamline the document signing process while remaining compliant and secure. While it may seem like signing documents electronically is something new, the idea has been around for a long time, but has only become popularized more recently.

In fact, it all began in 1977 when the RSA algorithm was invented by MIT colleagues Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman. This algorithm offered public-key cryptography for exchanging secured messages online and was used to support early digital signatures.

Fast forward 23 years and the ESIGN Act was signed into federal law in 2000. The act gave legal recognition to documents signed electronically if those using the technology consented to doing so.

Jumping another 23 years to today, eSignatures are now used by most businesses, and with the rise of hybrid and remote work, eSignatures speed up workflows and allow multiple parties to review and sign documents from different locations in minutes. Even industries with the most stringent security requirements like banking, healthcare, real estate, law, and insurance, rely on eSignature solutions, with the savviest businesses using cloud and SaaS solutions for its ease, security, scalability, and affordability.

• 1977: RSA algorithm was invented, opening the door to digital signatures.
• 2000: ESIGN Act was signed into federal law, giving legal recognition to eSignatures.
• 2023: SaaS and cloud solutions offer the flexibility needed in a remote-working world.

Want to know more about cloud eSignature solutions?

Explore Tungsten Automation SignDoc.