Security Features To Look For When Investing in PDF Software for Business
by Ayla El Assaad
When buying PDF and e-signature tools or software, it’s important to familiarize yourself with their security features.
Whether you’re a small business or a global corporation, software security is one of the most important factors to consider when buying a PDF management tool. At the end of the day, a hole in the security of your software, whatever it may be for, can put your whole company at risk.
Your teams will work with sensitive and confidential information, be it PDF documents or client contracts. The software you use should eliminate security vulnerabilities like unauthorized access or document tampering. The software should also comply with data handling laws and recognize general best practices.
Here, you will find security features to look for when buying PDF or e-signature software:
- digital signatures
- LVT timestamp
- CCPA compliance
- GDPR compliance
- TLS encryption
- ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation
- eIDAS compliance
Digital Signatures
Digital signatures are a very secure type of e-signature. These signatures are verified and authenticated through a specific mathematical algorithm. The more sensitive the information or impactful the contract, the more likely you’ll need digital signing over electronic signing. Both e-signatures and digital signatures are legally binding—check local laws to confirm legal requirements. LVT Timestamp
A Long Term Validation (LTV) timestamp is a feature that comes with digital signatures. In combination with cryptographic fingerprinting, it allows users to authenticate a signature and ensure it hasn’t been tampered with. Any changes to a signed document will render the whole document invalid.
CCPA Compliance
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) covers the rights of consumers living in California, USA. Similar to the GDPR, the CCPA protects both the consumer and their privacy rights.
GDPR Compliance
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a European Union (EU) law covering privacy and data protection in the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA). The law aims to strengthen EU citizens’ personal data protection rights.
ISO/IEC 27001 Accreditation
ISO/IEC 27001 is an international standard published by the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission. The standard focuses on best practices for information security management. It’s a must-have for IT systems of any kind and should be met by all software providers you may be considering.
TLS Encryption
Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a special encryption protocol that secures communication between two or more applications over a computer network using encryption. It’s the successor of SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption, offering some additional, modernized security features.
eIDAS
Electronic Identification, Authentication, and Trust Services, or eIDAS, is an EU regulation. It ensures that digital signatures and identification across all EU member states are both secure and standardized.
Security concerns and data protection are important topics to consider when buying your PDF or e-signature software. At Smallpdf, all of the above features come as standard with our Pro, Team, and Business plans. Click below to learn more about our plans. We offer a free trial of our software for free to help you understand how we can help you with your document management needs.
