The digital transformation of business in recent years has addressed the current need for comprehensive "depaperisation" – most contracts and agreements now commonly take an electronic form. The same applies to internal documents within organisations. For instance, since 1 January 2019, electronic employee records have increasingly replaced traditional documentation.
Electronic documents are not only legally valid, but also a financially attractive and eco-friendly alternative to paper-based document circulation and archiving.
Discover why storing electronic documents on the Autenti platform is not only convenient, but also – above all – secure.
How to securely archive documents without paper
The Autenti platform provides answers on how to securely and conveniently archive electronic documents. Each document signed on the platform meets the requirements of a "durable medium", as regulated in Article 2(4) of the Consumer Rights Act. This guarantees secure storage of information, unrestricted access and the ability to reproduce this information in an unchanged form in the future.
Secure archiving of documents on the Autenti platform ensures:
- Appropriate protection of the information contained in the document against modification;
- Storage of documents in a way that prevents unauthorised access;
- Free access to the information contained in the document by authorised entities for the duration needed to serve the intended purposes.
This means that documents on the Autenti platform are securely stored in an encrypted cloud environment, inaccessible to third parties. The signing process itself is conducted within strictly defined parameters using advanced IT mechanisms – from the moment the document is issued to the completion of the signing process, it is stored and made available only to authorised persons. The applied security measures prevent tampering with the document's content, ensuring its authenticity and integrity.
Integrity of archived electronic documents
The fact that a document is in electronic form may raise doubts and questions about whether the content of such a document has remained unchanged after signing. Ensuring the authenticity and integrity of the document's content is a fundamental feature of Autenti's innovative technology. The document signing process on the platform is strictly defined – from the moment the document is issued to the completion of its signing by all required parties, it is impossible to modify the document's content without it being detected.
To confirm procedural security, Autenti uses electronic seals based on a qualified certificate. The first seal is applied when the document is issued for signing, and the second when all signatures have been applied. Each seal is placed on the Signature Card and includes the exact time it was applied.
The electronic seal meets the requirements of Article 36 of eIDAS, which means that it:
a) Is uniquely assigned to the entity applying the seal;
b) Allows for the identification of the sealing entity;
c) Is applied using data created for the purpose of creating the electronic seal;
d) Is linked to the data to which it relates in such a way that any subsequent change to the data is detectable.
The solution used by Autenti allows for immediate verification of whether any changes were made to the content of the document between the application of the security seals. Document immutability can also be verified independently using software such as Adobe Acrobat Reader or other specialised signature and seal verification tools.
How to archive documents to ensure easy access for authorised persons
The Autenti platform also ensures and meets the requirement of providing accessibility to stored electronic documents for all parties involved in the agreement. Authorised individuals can access processed documents at any time and verify the current stage of the signing process for a specific document. All that is required is a device with internet access.
Autenti also enables convenient archiving of electronic documents on personal storage devices. Selected documents can be downloaded as a PDF file to a computer, a USB drive or another cloud storage (e.g., Google Drive, OneDrive), or sent to a selected email address (e.g., a company archive). Importantly, no matter how many copies of the signed document are stored, each one is valid and maintains the status of an original.
Can archived documents disappear or be deleted from the platform?
It is conceivable that a document stored in a traditional archive could be misplaced due to a mistake or oversight. Electronic archiving on the Autenti platform eliminates these inconveniences.
Every user can store thousands of documents on their account, which are easily searchable – simply provide the document title, name or recipient details. It is also possible to narrow the search to specific dates.
Most importantly, with Autenti, nothing gets lost. Even if electronic documents archived in a company's resources are lost – for example, due to a failure – they can always be re-downloaded from the platform account.
Why are electronic documents stored by Autenti secure?
The data centres processing documents signed through the Autenti platform are located within the European Union, specifically within the European Economic Area. These centres provide adequate protection against unauthorised access, minimising the risk of document loss through the utilisation of modern technological solutions.
Additionally, every platform user has access to an encrypted, cloud-based archive where their electronic documents are stored. Autenti employs a 256-bit encryption key to secure the data, and the security level is further enhanced through the use of advanced cryptographic algorithms.
