A system for verifying the authenticity of a digital electronic signature associated with an electronic document, such that a relying party is enabled to rely on the fact that a signing party reliably signed the electronic document, comprising:
- a certification authority computer system for generating a digital certification authority certificate certifying a cryptographic key pair of a certification authority private key and a certification authority public key for a signing party, identifying the signing party as subject, and including a policy allowing the signing party to issue a limited-use document signing certificate;
- a signing party computer system including a storage device for storing the certification authority private key and the digital certification authority certificate as a certification authority component for use when issuing the document signing certificate for construction of a digital electronic signature of the signing party for a to be signed electronic document;
- a signature authority computer system for signing the to be signed electronic document pursuant to a document signing request communicated from the signing party computer system, the to be signed electronic document obtained upon receiving the document signing request and, upon receiving a signing digital certificate from the certification authority component in response to a signature creation request communicated from the signature authority computer system to the certification authority component and a corresponding signing private key, creating the digital electronic signature on the to be signed electronic document for creating a signed electronic document;
- the certification authority component on the signing party computer system, in response to the signature creation request by the signature authority computer system, certifying a signing public key under the digital certification authority certificate identifying the signing party as subject and thereby creating the signing digital certificate, and returning to the signature authority computer system the signing digital certificate;
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- a communications network accessible for communicating between the signing party computer system and the signature authority computer system.