A digital certificate of signature (DSC) is a protected digital key provided by recognised Certifying Authorities for validating certificate holder ID (CAs). It includes a person’s name, a digital signature, the certificate’s issuance and expiration dates, and the name of the certificate authority (CA).

Types of Digital Signature Certificate
Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3 DSCs are used for various purposes depending on the type of entity and need.
Class 1:
Both businesses and individuals or private subscribers receive the class 1 certificate to confirm the name and email id of the user as specified in the consumer information database. This is only a basic assurance and is not generally regarded as important.

Class 2:
Similar to Class 1, Class 2 is issued for confirmation of information in the database to companies and private subscribers. It is used in monetary or personal information transactions, and in other transactions, where a major malicious activity risk occurs. Class 2 is also used in India to file several forms of government.

Class 3:
Class 3 is an upgraded Class 2 version. It is issued to individuals and organisations who want to take part in tenders and online auctions for government. Sometimes it is expected that the applicants will receive a Class 3 certificate before the CAs. In the environment where data robbery, fraud and security failure are likely to arise, Class 3 signatures are relevant.

How DSCs Work?
A PKI mechanism is used to create a DSC where two keys are generated, a public key and a private key. The signatory holds the private key, and when exchanging information the recipient needs to decode the information about the user’s identity. The user can use his/her password to save the private key as a token on the computer or on his/her hard drive.
The browser and server use the keys for encrypting and uncodeing information to permit the identity of the user during the transfer of information. The encrypted information distributes the public key. Even if one key is not compatible, the authentication process fails. This makes it impossible for unauthorised access to encrypted data to be decrypted.