Digital Signatures and Certification in Forms 

Purpose

This document gives you an overview of the document security functions available when using Interactive Forms based on Adobe software. It is targeted at the following groups:

·        Application developers

·        Consultants, sales teams

·        Business end users

As of SAP Web Application Server 7.0, Interactive Forms based on Adobe software supports the security functions certification and digital signatures. This includes the certification and setting of digital signatures in forms, and the related checks.

Certification guarantees that the author of a form can be identified uniquely; the digital signature guarantees a unique identification of the signer of the form. Certifications and digital signatures cannot be forged and protect the integrity of the data. Any changes made to the form after it has been changed invalidate both the digital signature and, depending on the settings, also the certification.

Overview of the structure of the documentation:

·        Certification of Forms

This section gives you detailed information about the certification of forms and how certified forms are checked.

·        Digital Signatures in Forms

This section explains how to set and check signatures, and also gives you information about multiple signatures.

·        Background Information

This section explains how hyperlinks, for example, are handled by signatures or certifications, and also how to handle forms that include JavaScript. 

·        Documentation Links

This section gives you an overview of all documentation at a glance.

Integration

Certification and digital signatures in interactive forms are based on general public key technology and are integrated into the security infrastructure as follows:

For server-side certification and server-side signatures, the required key pairs, which consist of a public key (part of a certificate) and a private key (also known as a credential), are located on the J2EE Engine. The required installation and configuration activities are usually performed by an administrator. For more information, see the Adobe Document Services Configuration Guide (in English only).

For client-side certification and client-side signatures, the required keys are located on the front-end or end user PC. For more information, see the online help for Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader.

For up-to-date information about the required Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader version, see SAP Note 834573.

Restrictions

There are laws in various countries that regulate the use of digital signatures. These laws are currently controversial and may change. You must keep yourself informed about the impact these laws may have on your applications, and make sure that you are aware of any further developments.

·        The digital signatures and the certification of forms are not currently valid in the context of German signature laws.

·        Do not use digital signatures and certification in dynamic PDF forms. Dynamic PDFs can be used as of Adobe Acrobat 7 or Adobe Reader 7. The layout of a form of this type has a dynamic structure. The layout of the form can change at runtime, while it is being displayed in Adobe Reader. Dynamic layout changes can include, for example, table rows being added to or removed from a purchase order, or fields being revealed or hidden, as specified by a script.

Digital signatures and certification are not the same thing as encryption. Form encryption is not yet supported and is not handled by this documentation. An encrypted document must only be readable by the intended recipients. This means that encryption, also known as a digital envelope, has a different objective from the security functions discussed here.