Digital signature technologies have become a reliable way of doing business in a primarily digitized world. These technologies are expected to grow in popularity in 2023 and here are several key trends to watch:
Increased adoption: As more organizations and individuals become aware of the benefits of digital signature technologies, you can expect to see greater adoption of such solutions. This adoption includes a wide range of industries such as financial services, real estate, legal, IT and many more that serve as early-adopters of new technologies and which process a high volume of digital transactions requiring digital signatures.
Improved security and compliance: One of the key advantages of digital signature technologies is the enhanced security and compliance they offer. These technologies use advanced encryption and authentication methods to ensure the integrity and authenticity of signed documents. In 2023, you can expect to see further developments in the security and compliance of digital signature technologies. ZorroSign’s data security platform provides users with the security and privacy afforded by blockchain technology, plus our patented fraud detection technology (the Z-Forensics token), and passwordless login options through biometrics security.
Enhanced user experience: As digital signature technologies become more widespread, you can anticipate a greater focus on improving the user experience. This could include the development of more intuitive and user-friendly interfaces, as well as the integration of digital signature technologies with other tools and platforms. In this spirit, ZorroSign just recently launched our completely redesigned user experience! On the back-end, we’ve updated to a scalable microservices and containers architecture—allowing our platform to grow quickly while enhancing our development team’s productivity, autonomy, and efficiency. We’re also deploying on Provenance Blockchain for select organizations and continually enhancing our privacy, security, and compliance capabilities. On the front-end, you will quickly see the simplicity of our new user interface—delivering what we believe to be the best user experience for digital signatures!
Increased use of biometric authentication: Biometric authentication methods, such as fingerprint scanning and facial recognition, offer an additional layer of security for digital signature technologies. In 2023, you can expect to see more organizations and individuals using biometric authentication methods to sign documents electronically. ZorroSign leverages the biometric security of Apple and Android mobile devices to login to individual devices (and so the ZorroSign app) with hardware biometric capture features such as face, fingerprint, and iris scans. Such biometric login facilitates passwordless user authentication at the device-level for subsequent ZorroSign digital signatures and document management.
Moreadvanced integration with other technologies: Digital signature technologies can be integrated with a wide range of other technologies, such as workflow management systems, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, and document management systems. In 2023, you can anticipate more advanced integration of digital signature technologies with these and other tools, enabling organizations to streamline and automate their document signing processes.
Overall, 2023 is shaping up to be a promising year for the adoption of digital signature technologies! As more organizations and individuals embrace these solutions, ZorroSign is expecting to see a range of benefits, including improved security and compliance, enhanced user experience, and greater integration with other technologies.
Contact us to learn more about our data security platform built on blockchain and put us to the test: Start your free trial of ZorroSign’s data security platform today!
While information and data have always been valuable commodities, they have never been as available and distributed as they are in our digital world today. With digital information being so readily generated and shared, data security rises in importance. Learning about data security and how it may impact your business, government, and personal life is a necessity. So let’s dive in to what data security means and its importance in today’s technologically driven world!
What is Data Security
“Data security is the process of safeguarding digital information throughout its entire life cycle to protect it from corruption, theft, or unauthorized access,” defines Fortinet, a computer, data, and network security company. “It covers everything—hardware, software, storage devices, and user devices; access and administrative controls; and organizations’ policies and procedures.”
“When properly implemented, robust data security strategies will protect an organization’s information assets against cybercriminal activities, but they also guard against insider threats and human error, which remains among the leading causes of data breaches today,” adds IBM. “Data security involves deploying tools and technologies that enhance the organization’s visibility into where its critical data resides and how it is used. Ideally, these tools should be able to apply protections like encryption, data masking, and redaction of sensitive files, and should automate reporting to streamline audits and adhering to regulatory requirements.”
The Importance of Data Security
In today’s digital world, protecting proprietary information—including client data, financial transactions, knowledge archives, infrastructure and databases—must be a top priority for companies and organizations. If they fail via data breaches, hacking, or theft, companies may lose customers and lose trust.
“All businesses have data that’s valuable and that has to be protected,” said Candy Alexander, international president at Information Systems Security Association, a nonprofit organization for information security professionals and practitioners.
Individuals and organizations rely on the companies they do business with to safeguard their data. If a trusted company fails at this task, the company will have more than just the legal fallout to contend with.
According to UpGuard, the combined cost of global data breaches in 2021—including customer repayments, auditing services, legal fees, and fines, among other costs—was approximately $6 trillion. But a failure to protect private information negatively impacts more than just a business’s bottom line, it endangers their reputation and future success. As such, companies employ skilled professionals to prevent or mitigate such risks.
“The cloud, mobility, and the powerful devices most of us have in our pockets enable a culture of convenience, and the ability to collaborate and be more productive. While this convenience arguably makes our lives easier, it also makes it easier for cybercriminals to gain access to our sensitive personal information wherever it lives or wherever it is traveling across the network,” explains SimpliLearn. “New security threats pop up all the time, and IT security professionals need to stay up to date with the latest tactics hackers are employing in the field.” Data security teams must include strategists, communicators, and lifelong learners to ensure IT security is consistently a top priority.
ZorroSign is a Data Security Platform Build on Blockchain
Advancing data security is critical for any technology managing data, and ZorroSign delivers data security in several ways.
The first way ZorroSign supports data security is by using distributed ledger technologies—originally built on Hyperledger Fabric, now expanded to include the Provenance Blockchain—ZorroSign provides superior privacy and security, while preventing fraud and ensuring regulatory compliance.
Blockchains provide structural layers of protection from cybercrime like ransomware, malware, or phishing attacks by decentralizing the data set itself (preventing any one breach to access the entire data set), and then by giving endpoints (or nodes) a quick path to recovery, even if they are themselves breached or their access ransomed. Unlike centralized databases—which can be breached at unsecure endpoints (users and devices) or even at managed service providers (MSPs) hosting them—giving attackers complete control once they gain central access, blockchain technology distributes data physically across separate nodes. By decentralizing data storage, blockchain effectively prevents any one endpoint (even if compromised) from gaining control of the full data set. This distributed nature defeats any attack seeking to breach a system and holistically encrypts the data files stored inside: A single endpoint node might be breached, and its files held for ransom, but the larger data set cannot be controlled by any one endpoint (or central authority) and so attackers cannot capture the full data set for encryption, ransom, and shutting down the network.
ZorroSign has further elevated our data security through our patented fraud detection technology we call the Z-Forensics token. This unique digital solution can:
Prove that the individual who is performing the action to sign the document is who they claim to be (verification)
Apply a digital equivalent of a wet-ink signature to the document (legal intent)
Prove the authenticity of the printed or digital version of an electronically signed document, its content, attachments, and the signatures on it (authenticity)
Plus ZorroSign supports computer security with passwordless authentication capabilities, leveraging the biometric security of Apple and Android mobile devices to login to the device (and ZorroSign app) with hardware biometric capture features such as face, fingerprint, and iris scans. Such biometric login facilitates user authentication at the device-level without passwords (which can be hacked or stolen) for elevated security of digital signatures and your digital documents.
Contact us to learn more about data security and put us to the test: Start your free trial of ZorroSign’s data security platform built on blockchain today!
We are proud to finish 2022 strong by sharing our completely redesigned user experience for ZorroSign’s data security platform built on blockchain!
On the back-end, we’ve updated to an elaborate microservices and containers architecture—allowing our platform to scale quickly while enhancing our development team’s productivity, autonomy, and efficiency. We’re also deploying on Provenance Blockchain for select organizations and continually enhancing our privacy, security, and compliance capabilities.
On the front-end, you will quickly see the simplicity of our user interface—delivering what we believe to be the best user experience for digital signatures!
For a quick introduction to our new look, new features, and new benefits, watch this short overview from our U.S. operations team:
What’s New with ZorroSign’s Data Security Platform Built on Blockchain
And for an expanding overview of key functionality, visit our YouTube channel to watch helpful videos on creating an account, creating E-Sign documents, using platform tools, digitally signing documents, and so much more!
ZorroSign’s YouTube Channel: New User Experience Playlist
We are thrilled to share our updated platform with you . . .
Every November 30th, the United States observes National Computer Security Day. This year, we’d like to share some details on the history of this security awareness, how ZorroSign’s data security platform built on blockchain contributes to computer security, and how you can observe National Computer Security Day to improve your hardware and data security.
“It seems like every day we hear about breaches in cyber security. Keeping people and companies safe online is a top priority all over the world. It’s something that stays uppermost in our minds on National Computer Security Day. The story of National Computer Security Day is an interesting one.
“On November 2, 1988, Cornell University researchers uncovered an unknown virus lurking in their computer systems. Within four hours of discovery, the Morris worm virus invaded several other university systems as well as the ARPANET, an early version of today’s internet.
“Six days later, two computer experts with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recommended assembling a National Computer Infection Action Team (NCAT) to respond 24/7, 365 to these kinds of attacks. On November 14, the Software Engineering Institute (SEI), a research center connected with Carnegie Mellon University, set up the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT).
“In 1988, the National Computer Security Day sprang out of the Washington, D.C., chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery’s (ACM) Special Interest Group on Security, Audit, and Control as a way to raise awareness about cybercrimes and viruses. According to a 2004 Networld article, ‘November 30 was chosen for CSD so that attention on computer security would remain high during the holiday season – when people are typically more focused on the busy shopping season than thwarting security threats.’ By 2003, CERT and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security joined forces to create the National Cyber Awareness System.
“Whether we’re talking about National Computer Security Day or National Cybersecurity Awareness Month also in October, the goals are essentially the same. Each person must be proactive to protect their online security. Use this month to find out all you can about common-sense ways to stay safe in cyberspace.”
HOW ZORROSIGN’S PLATFORM SUPPORTS COMPUTER SECURITY
ZorroSign is the first company that offers a multi-blockchain data security platform to secure, track, and manage your digital signatures, transactions, and documentation.
By using distributed ledger technologies—originally built on Hyperledger Fabric and now expanded to include the Provenance Blockchain—ZorroSign provides superior privacy and security, while preventing fraud and ensuring regulatory compliance.
Blockchains provide structural layers of protection from cybercrime—like ransomware, malware, or phishing attacks—first, by decentralizing the data set itself (preventing any one breach to access the entire data set), and second, by giving endpoints (or nodes) a quick path to recovery, even if they are themselves breached or their access ransomed. Unlike centralized databases—which can be breached at unsecure endpoints (users and devices) or even at managed service providers (MSPs) hosting them—giving attackers complete control once they gain central access, blockchain technology distributes data physically across separate nodes. By decentralizing data storage, blockchain effectively prevents any one endpoint (even if compromised) from gaining control of the full data set. This distributed nature defeats any attack seeking to breach a system and holistically encrypts the data files stored inside: A single endpoint node might be breached, and its files held for ransom, but the larger data set cannot be controlled by any one endpoint (or central authority) and so attackers cannot capture the full data set for encryption, ransom, and shutting down the network.
ZorroSign has further elevated our security through our patented fraud detection technology we call the Z-Forensics token. This unique digital solution that can:
Prove that the individual who is performing the action to sign the document is who they claim to be (verification)
Apply a digital equivalent of a wet-ink signature to the document (legal intent)
Prove the authenticity of the printed or digital version of an electronically signed document, its content, attachments, and the signatures on it (authenticity)
Plus ZorroSign supports computer security with passwordless authentication capabilities, leveraging the biometric security of Apple and Android mobile devices to login to the device (and ZorroSign app) with hardware biometric capture features such as face, fingerprint, and iris scans. Such biometric login facilitates user authentication at the device-level without passwords (which can be hacked or stolen) for elevated security of digital signatures and your digital documents.
“Create a strong password In computer security, length matters. Passwords that are six characters are easier to hack, especially if they’re only made up of lowercase letters. To beef up your password, weave a nine-character combination of uppercase letters, symbols and numbers. Lastly, avoid using the same password for every account.
“Update spyware and malware protection software First, check to see if your operating system is up-to-date. If that’s set, update your protection software. Run a scan and don’t forget to invite your other devices to the party. Phones and tablets are also major security risks, so be diligent.
“Encrypt and backup your data Encrypt your data to create the brainiest of all brainteasers. But keep this in mind: even the best brain teaser can be cracked. That’s why it’s still important to back up your info on either the cloud or an external hard drive. (Just make sure that everything stays encrypted.)”
Use ZorroSign’s data security platform built on blockchain Tap the cybersecurity of blockchain with ZorroSign’s platform uniting digital signatures (Z-Sign), automated compliance (Z-Flow), intelligent forms (Z-Fill), document storage (Z-Vault), patented fraud prevention (Z-Forensics), user authentication and document verification (Z-Verify), identity-as-a-service (IDaaS), and so much more. Plus elevate computer security with our passwordless login capabilities, and patented Z-Forensics token for fraud detection. When the risk is personal and everything is on the line, Block It Down!
Contact us to learn more or put us to the test: Start your free trial of ZorroSign’s data security platform built on blockchain today!
At ZorroSign we recently made a major change to our platform architecture!
We have always been built on blockchain—and have always delivered the most private, most secure digital signatures—but we wanted to scale our platform much more aggressively, and that vison required a big change in how we develop and deploy our technology. Specifically, we moved from a centralized, monolithic approach to using microservices and containers.
Let me explain why we choose this new engineering approach and how your company might benefit from a similar move.
What Are Microservices? What Are Containers?
“A microservices architecture splits your application into multiple services that perform fine-grained functions and are part of your application as a whole,” explains IBM. “Each of your microservices will have a different logical function for your application.”
Explained another way, “a microservices framework creates a massively scalable and distributed system, which avoids the bottlenecks of a central database,” says Avi Networks (now part of VMware). “Microservices break an application into independent, loosely-coupled, individually deployable services… allowing for each service to scale or update using the deployment of service proxies without disrupting other services in the application and enabling the rapid, frequent and reliable delivery of large, complex applications.”
There are two types of microservices: Stateless (which do not save data, so any data is lost when the microservice’s container restarts), and Stateful (which do save data and so write to a database).
And where do you put those microservices? In containers.
“Containers are packages of your software that include everything that it needs to run, including code, dependencies, libraries, binaries, and more,” continues IBM. “Docker and Kubernetes are the most popular frameworks to orchestrate multiple containers in enterprise environments”
“Containers are a lightweight alternative to VMs for providing isolated operating environments for your workloads,” says Edward Kisller for JFrog. “Containers avoid the infrastructure overhead of a full-blown OS and provide only those resources (i.e., installations, dependencies, and code) that your applications actually need.” In other words, containers do not use all the CPU or RAM but instead share the operating system kernel for faster boots and less memory consumption.
“A container is a useful resource allocation and sharing technology. It’s something dev-ops people get excited about,” writes Ev Kontsevoy for Teleport. “A microservice is a software design pattern. It’s something developers get excited about.”
Why Develop with Microservices? What Are the Benefits?
“Microservices architectures make applications easier to scale and faster to develop,” notes Amazon Web Services. “Enabling innovation and accelerating time-to-market for new features.”
Such were ZorroSign’s high-level goals: To improve scalability, resilience, and productivity.
“Moving to microservices enabled a polyglot tech stack,” said Priyal Walpita, chief technology officer at ZorroSign. “Which means our engineers could contribute to our development efforts using the technology stacks that they know best, plus we boosted performance and facilitated a continuous delivery pipeline for easier and faster deployments.”
“Applications were traditionally built as monolithic pieces of software,” continues Avi Networks. “Monolithic applications have long life cycles, are updated infrequently and changes usually affect the entire application. Adding new features requires reconfiguring and updating the entire stack — from communications to security. This costly and cumbersome process delays time-to-market and updates in application development.”
In contrast to monolithic apps, microservices/container architectures bring benefits such as greater:
Agility — Microservices foster the organization of small, independent teams that take ownership of their services. “Best examples of microservices agility are sites like Amazon, eBay, Uber and Netflix, which are active 24×7,” notes AnAr Solutions. “The performance of these sites is a benchmark for other sites and applications. The response time, ability to handle multiple requests and process in minimum time is commendable.”
Productivity — “The microservice architecture tackles the speed issue of applications and its productivity by dividing it into small parts. In this way, these applications are developed and maintained at a very fast speed,” writes Terralogic. “Different teams work independently without waiting for the other team to finish their chunks of work. In this way, separate microservices are easier to locate and modify. Quality assurance of this microservice architecture is very fast as the programs which are developed early are tested instead of waiting for all the programs to be completed.”
Resilience — With microservices, an application will still function if part of it goes down because microservices allow for spinning up a replacement, granting the entire system higher resilience. “Three well-known microservices resiliency techniques improve fault tolerance and allow applications to smoothly handle failures,” explains Dr. Alan F. Castillo for Cloud Computing Technologies: Retry patterns, circuit breaker patterns, and timeout design patterns. “Employing these patterns is a very effective resiliency strategy for microservices applications. It doesn’t matter how you apply these patterns; what matters is that you have systems that can properly deal with failures.”
Continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) — Microservice facilitate CI/CD for applications and modernize the technology stack. “There are some goals of a strong CI/CD progression to serve in the microservices design, for example, every team of coders independently develop and install their changes or edits owned by them individualistically so that it did not affect or disrupt the work of other teams,” reports DevOps Enabler. “CI/CD best practices include the goal of automating the building process, testing the products, and then releasing the software. Developers must be able to track the performance metrics of DevOps throughout the software delivery lifecycle and warn people so that they can quickly recover if something goes wrong during deployment or release cycle.”
Scalability — Meeting demand is easier when microservices only have to scale the necessary components, which requires fewer resources. “Since an application is composed of multiple micro services which share no external dependencies, scaling a particular micro service instance in the flow is greatly simplified,” writes Atul Saini for Fiorano Software. “If a particular microservice in a flow becomes a bottleneck due to slow execution, that microservice can be run on more powerful hardware for increased performance if required, or one can run multiple instances of the microservice on different machines to process data elements in parallel.”
Security — “Migrating to microservices creates an opportunity for a much better security model,” explains Kontsevo. “As every microservice is a specialized process, it is a good idea to only allow it to access resources it needs. This way a vulnerability in just one microservice will not expose the rest of your system to an attacker.”
Not everything is easier with microservices, of course. Three commonly acknowledged challenges of deploying microservices typically include: First, the “complexity from managing microservices written in different languages,” as we’ve done at ZorroSign. Second, the “cost implications of network resource usage from remote calls across multiple services” and third, “investigating root causes or auditing systems becomes challenging when dealing with log management across distributed services, as log aggregators would be required,” suggests BMC.
But complexity, costs, and support all increase when any application grows, so facing those challenges with a microservices architecture is little different than facing the complexity, costs, and support challenges of a larger monolithic app.
Why ZorroSign Choose Microservices—and Why You Should, Too
Our CTO and I have been assessing microservices for several years, and committed to an overhaul of our DevOps a year ago. We spent the first half of 2022 building the next iteration of ZorroSign’s blockchain platform with microservices and containers.
“Beyond the development advantages, microservices allow us to more easily manage complex ZorroSign back-end services and improve our entire system’s resiliency,” said Walpita. “It’s far easier finding and fixing bugs, allowing our development team to focus on single, isolated functionality, and then deploying asynchronously to other development efforts, whenever new functionality is tested and ready.”
From my perspective, I was intrigued to learn how microservices improved our defense-in-depth capabilities, as security can be configured much more granularly and configured at each microservice level. With ZorroSign’s commitment to privacy and security, microservices were another important upgrade to keep our platform ahead of the competition.
“Our team develops in C#, Go, Java, and Python,” adds Walpita. “Being able to deploy all those program languages in a single application, united across AWS cloud tools, Docker, and Kubernetes, gives ZorroSign the flexibility our engineers desire and the scalability our customers demand.”
Finally, I asked Priyal what advice he might give other organizations thinking of deploying microservices. He said: “Make sure your product and development team are mature enough to adopt the complexity of a microservice architecture. At some point, a growing app’s need for scalability, higher resilience, and improved performance may make microservices the best path forward. But ensuring your DevOps are ready to integrate and manage all the pieces of a polyglot tech stack is the key to success.”
I encourage you to consider microservices for your apps, and welcome the chance to talk more about this exciting architecture for new technologies!
At ZorroSign, we are huge advocates of blockchain technology and its role in the metaverse and web3. We truly believe that the future for maintaining the highest level of security and privacy for businesses and online transactions is rooted in blockchain solutions.
Dubai is a city embracing the use of blockchain technology and wooing forward-thinking entrepreneurs. It has a history of visionary innovation, having already attracted 1,000 companies in the blockchain and metaverse space.
Dubai has taken a global lead in the use of blockchain technology with the Dubai Blockchain Strategy launched in October 2016 by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum— propelling Dubai to be the first city in the world to conduct applicable government transactions via blockchain by 2020.
From that bold initiative—focused on improving government efficiency, creating new industry, and leading the world with paperless operations—Dubai has continually explored and evaluated distributed ledger technology innovations that demonstrate an opportunity to deliver more seamless, safe, efficient, and impactful city experiences.
It was from that 2016 vision that ZorroSign’s co-founder and CEO, Shamsh Hadi, drew inspiration to map his company’s emerging eSignature solution to blockchain. In the years since, ZorroSign has built a multi-chain blockchain platform uniting digital signatures, identity-as-a-service, automated compliance, and many more web3 technologies to support not only Dubai’s paperless initiatives and the vision of Sheikh Mohammed, but paperless operations for businesses, governments, and individuals around the world. Dubai’s blockchain strategy was a key beginning!
In September 2022, H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, launched the Dubai Metaverse Strategy—aiming to turn Dubai into one of the world’s top ten metaverse economies as well as a global hub for the metaverse community.
“The Dubai Metaverse Strategy seeks to:
“Foster innovation, enhance the metaverse’s economic contributions through research and development collaborations, and promote advanced ecosystems utilizing accelerators and incubators that attract companies and projects to Dubai;
“Foster talent and invest in future capabilities by providing the necessary support in metaverse education aimed at developers, content creators and users of digital platforms in the metaverse community; and,
“Develop web3 technology and its applications to create new governmental work models and development in vital sectors, including tourism, education, retail, remote work, healthcare and the legal sector.”
“After the successful implementation of the strategy to transform Dubai into a Smart City by 2017, Dubai Government launched the Smart Dubai 2021 Strategy.”
With goals of customer happiness, economic growth, and resource and infrastructure resilience, the Smart Dubai 2021 Strategy presents six strategic objectives to achieve:
A “smart livable and resilient city” — achieving full information and communication technology (ICT) enablement of critical infrastructure, enhancing resilience and delivering an integrated, sustainable urban experience.
A “globally competitive economy powered by disruptive technologies” — digitally transforming economic sectors, transitioning to sustainability while fostering vibrant entrepreneurship and innovative ecosystems.
An “interconnected society with easily accessible social services” —digitizing and simplifying access to services for residents and visitors, improving the quality of life and streamlining social, cultural, education, and healthcare experiences in the emirate.
“Smooth transport driven by autonomous and shared mobility solutions” — pioneering mobile solutions for a seamless and safe transportation experience, harnessing autonomous transportation technologies, and reducing time spent commuting.
A “clean environment enabled by cutting-edge ICT innovations” — deploying technologies that ensure sustainability and quality of the emirate’s resources (water, air, energy, and land), improving resource efficiency and conserving consumption, and digitally transform utilities/manufacturing/transportation to reduce the emirate’s carbon footprint.
A “digital, lean connected government” — i.e., “a government with zero visits” eliminating the need to commute to and physically interact with the government via paperless, cashless government operations delivering optimized experiences and powered by world-class city-wide shared services and infrastructure.
“The Digital Dubai initiative represents a vision to recreate the traditional top-bottom city management model into one that is representative and sustainable,” writes David Ndichu for Gulf Business. “Data is the foundation for the smart city Dubai aspires to be and the emergent digital economy the country is fostering.”
ZorroSign and Dubai
ZorroSign’s CEO and co-founder, Shamsh Hadi, is a third-generation member of the Hadi family who have called Dubai their home for the last 55 years.
ZorroSign’s multi-chain blockchain technology supports Dubai’s blockchain strategy, metaverse strategy, Smart Dubai 2021 strategy, and paperless initiatives while helping organizations around the world move to private, secure paperless operations. Our technology was built from the ground up using private, permissioned Hyperledger Fabric blockchain—the blockchain architecture deployed by Amazon Web Services, IBM, Intel, Mastercard, Microsoft, PayPal, and more—and ZorroSign’s platform today also supports public, permissionless Provenance Blockchain.
When privacy and security is mission critical, organizations from Dubai to Dublin, Dallas to Dhaka need ZorroSign for digital signatures, transactions, and documentation. Put ZorroSign’s blockchain platform to the test by signing up for a free trial today at https://www.zorrosign.com/new/
Blockchain-based digital signatures for greater privacy and security
With more and more businesses, governments, and individuals employing blockchain technology for commerce and operations, ZorroSign stands as key addition to your technology stack.
Whether you’re decentralizing data with web3, securing cloud or software-as-a-service (SaaS) architectures, committing to digital transformation, or elevating sustainability, our multi-chain blockchain solution is the perfect addition to your IT offerings—learn how!
If You’re Decentralizing with Web3
The idea of escaping a centralized authority managing protocols, transactions, and access was built into the World Wide Web from its earliest days.
Web 1.0 was the initial iteration of the World Wide Web in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. “Web 1.0 is the term used for the earliest version of the Internet as it emerged from its origins with Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA),” writes Kuntal Chakraborty for Techopedia. “Experts refer to it as the ‘read-only’ web—a web that was not interactive in any significant sense.”
From those early static web pages, a platform model of computing soon evolved that would become Web 2.0 or the ‘social web.’ Here, interaction with growing web applications and platforms drove e-commerce and the expansion of the Internet, allowing large providers to aggregate and control much of the shared data. This is the Internet we know today.
The dream of Web 3.0, however, is to break the centralization of information and democratize the Internet more to the vision of its earliest founders. “Web3, ” claims Chris Dixon from Andreesen Horowitz in a recent article in The Economist, “combines the decentralized, community-governed ethos of web1 with the advanced, modern functionality of web2.”
“The rise of technologies such as distributed ledgers and storage on blockchain will allow for data decentralization and create a transparent and secure environment, overtaking Web 2.0’s centralization, surveillance and exploitative advertising,” writes Charles Silver in a recent Forbes article. “Indeed, one of the most significant implications of decentralization and blockchain technology is in the area of data ownership and compensation… Web 3.0 will bring us a fairer internet by enabling the individual to be a sovereign.”
Blockchains are distributed ledger technology (DLT) leveraging cryptography—user authentication, data encryption and verification—to secure information records (blocks) distributed across peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. DLTs replicate, share, and synchronize digital data geographically spread across multiple sites (nodes), with no central data storage or administrator. They can run publicly (open) or privately (permissioned).
Perhaps most importantly, blockchains can support smart contracts—where terms, conditions, and permissions written into the digital code that require an exact sequence of events to take place to trigger the agreement of the terms mentioned in the blockchain contract. This hardwiring of contract details greatly increases speed (via automation), trust (where accuracy and backup are built into the transaction), and autonomy (as no third parties are required to mediate or control the exchange) of transactions.
As such, centralized solutions such as blockchains have immense potential to transform business contracts, real estate deals, digital rights, supply chain security and provenance, estate planning, and many other legal transactions.
And here is where ZorroSign shines!
We have built our digital platform from the ground up using blockchain technology. Launched with Hyperledger Fabric, our multi-chain platform now supports the public Provenance Blockchain as well, giving our users an entirely new world of decentralized digital transactions.
Our web3 technology platform also provides identity-as-a-service (IDaaS) capabilities through a patented Z-Forensics token plus fraud prevention, user authentication, and document verification. Web3 features such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) allow us to automate form completion for digital documents, and can improve regulatory compliance across global standards for legally enforceable digital signatures.
Paired with Provenance Blockchain—which reduces the need for third-party intermediation, drastically reducing costs and freeing up capital in financial transactions—ZorroSign’s platform promotes greater transparency and liquidity for organizations, and allows for new kinds of financial engineering and business opportunities.
If You’re Securing SaaS or Cloud Solutions
More than 90% of all cyber attacks begin with phishing but blockchain architecture, originally built for zero-trust environments, can deliver a compelling alternative to centralized databases and a strong protection against cyber attacks. How?
In phishing attacks that seek to steal data, blockchain presents a data architecture where no single endpoint node controls the data set. Even if an individual endpoint is hacked through phishing or other social engineering, the data set is distributed across many nodes. This decentralization of data and access means even successful phishing attacks that penetrate a blockchain endpoint only gain a small piece of system access.
In cyber attacks that seek to inject malware such as ransomware, the distributed nature of blockchain defeats those seeking to breach a system then holistically ransom the data files stored therein. Again, a single endpoint node might be breached, but the larger data set cannot be controlled by any one endpoint (or central authority) and so attackers cannot capture the full data set for encryption, ransom, and shutting down the network.
Recovery is quicker with blockchain, too. With blockchain, each endpoint node has a unique encryption key to access and write to the distributed ledger. If any one of those endpoints is successfully hacked (compromising their access key), the blockchain can simply remove distributed ledger access for that compromised key, issue the endpoint a new key, and allow that endpoint to quickly regain distributed ledger access (effectively as a new endpoint). This speedy recovery process effectively maroons any ransomware on the endpoint it attacked—ending its access and threat—while allowing the endpoint to re-engage the larger data set with a new key and without needing to pay any ransom to the attackers for restored access.
ZorroSign technology leverages the biometric capabilities of hardware endpoints to verify user identities—for example, PC and mobile device fingerprint scans, iris scans, and face recognition to ensure users are who they claim to be.
And ZorroSign multi-factor authentication (MFA) provides maximum security, as before a user can sign a document, our platform can validate multiple dimensions of authentication based upon your transaction security needs: What you know (i.e., your ZorroSign login password ), what you have (e.g., your laptop or mobile device), who you are (e.g., biometrics such as fingerprints or eye iris on the device securing who can access it), etc.
ZorroSign has further elevated our security through our patented fraud detection technology we call the Z-Forensics token, our unique digital solution that can:
Prove that the individual who is performing the action to sign the document is who they claim to be (verification);
Apply a digital equivalent of a wet-ink signature to the document (legal intent); and,
Prove the authenticity of the printed copy or digital version of an electronically signed document, its content, attachments, and the signatures on it (authenticity).
Unlike any other digital signature solution, ZorroSign seals all your documents with our Z-Forensics token—capturing the complete audit trail and accompanying attachments and signature workflow. The token is encrypted and contains all the details about the transaction: Time stamps, user authentication, documents and attachments.
And like your SaaS solutions, ZorroSign’s SaaS model can be deployed in various cloud configurations, making it seamless to integrate into your existing platform as a public, private, hybrid, or on-premise cloud:
Our standard deployment is on Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud computing network
In our private cloud configuration, all your data and the ZorroSign application run in a private and secure cloud network dedicated to your organization
In a hybrid cloud configuration, your data can be stored on either ZorroSign data centers or in the private cloud, while the ZorroSign platform and applications run on their standard public cloud configurations
On-premise deployments require your department to manage and maintain your own data centers, but gain the benefits of unlimited API calls and total control over identity access management (IAM), data privacy and security, and data integrity processes
If You’re Committed to Digital Transformation
For years, organizations have steadily moved more and more of their operations to digital data and delivery. Such advances save time and effort, automate key processes, and drive greater efficiency and effectiveness. With digital transformation, customers or constituents can receive services faster and gain self-service options, and employees get more time to work on the most important projects.
“Digital transformation is no longer an option, but an imperative,” notes the Harvard Business Review. “Recent research from Accenture has found that in the three years prior to 2018, firms who led their industry in enterprise technology adoption grew two times faster than laggards. Today, they are growing five times faster. The risk is no longer merely getting left behind, but being eliminated altogether.”
For organizations leveraging digital data, apps and SaaS, IoT, or any of the multitude of other digital solutions, adding ZorroSign can be an important consideration.
To transact business, commerce, government, or individual trade in such a digital ecosystem also requires legally enforceable digital signatures to prove agreement and intent. Our multi-chain blockchain platform delivers such digital signatures and ensures the digital chain-of-custody necessary to successfully defend digital signatures in a court of law.
And by digitizing paper-based workflows, ZorroSign’s digital signature and document management platform can decrease costs, reduce errors, and increase productivity across digital operations . . . a massive benefit for any organization committed to digital transformation!
If You’re Focused on Sustainable Business
Digital operations also eliminate paper so “going green” with paperless operations may readily align to your IT organization’s corporate social responsibility goals or vision.
At ZorroSign, we help IT organizations deliver paperless operations. We all understand that switching from doing business using paper to digital records is not only a smart business decision, but it is also good for the environment. Each time you use ZorroSign to digitally transact agreements, contracts, and other documents—instead of printing, faxing, scanning, shipping documents overnight to collect signatures—you save trees and water, plus reduce carbon emissions.
Further, ZorroSign is dedicated to advancing sustainability while advancing new technologies, promoting a paperless life and leading sustainability programs that support environmental conservation. The company’s Save-a-Tree, Plant-a-Tree program, for example, plants a tree on behalf of customers every time they save 8,000 pages of copy paper. As one tree produces roughly 8,000 pages of copy paper, this amounts to a double incentive: Reducing the destruction of trees via reduced paper use, plus increasing the number of trees as a reward for reducing paper use.
For all these reasons and more, if you are using blockchain technologies—or planning to in 2023—consider ZorroSign as a strong complement to your technology stack! You can start with a free 14-day trial to see what we can deliver or contact us to learn more!
Blockchain technology is an important part of how we do business here at ZorroSign, and we truly believe that the future for transacting business—and maintaining the highest level of privacy and security—is rooted in utilizing distributed ledgers. Thankfully, we are not alone!
Let’s take a look at some of the innovative ways that forward-thinking organizations are using blockchain technology in Phoenix, Arizona.
Dash
Dash is a Phoenix-based cryptocurrency that enables anyone, anywhere in the world to make quick, easy and cheap payments at any time without going through a central authority. Based on a decentralized peer-to-peer network, and secured by strong cryptography, Dash offers a safe and user-friendly payment method without barriers. Dash is portable, inexpensive, divisible and fast digital cash for both the internet and everyday life.
Dash is used around the world as a practical alternative to cash and credit cards. It is also a useful solution in the international remittances market. It is particularly popular in regions where technical access barriers exist to traditional payment systems, or where hyperinflation has made existing currency impractical to use.
The Dash Platform is a technology stack for building decentralized applications on the Dash network. The two main architectural components, Drive and DAPI, turn the Dash P2P network into a cloud that developers can integrate with their applications.
Propy
Propy is a residential real estate platform built upon the Ethereum blockchain that accelerates transaction time for home buying. Their products help brokers, agents and title companies migrate to closing on blockchain.
They built a blockchain-powered title and escrow company that supports traditional, crypto, and NFT closing. In addition, Propy records the title on both the blockchain and with the county registrar. The company’s new service has been launched for residential real estate transactions in Arizona, Colorado and Florida.
Real estate agents use Propy to invite buyers and sellers to the Propy platform where they can all use it from offer to close, removing legacy processes and systems that slow down the whole process. All parties involved in the process of home purchase and sale are able to view and follow in real time every step in their transaction and close in a secure blockchain environment. The blockchain closing environment minimizes the risks associated with wire and title fraud or loss of information.
Sky Republic
Founded in 2016, Sky Republic is a pioneer in enterprise blockchain and supply chain integration, recognized in six Gartner Hype Cycles. They provide blockchain automation for digital supply chains.
Sky Republic’s Atlas Sky Contract Platform (SCP) delivers real-time reconciliation, asset tracking, provenance tracing, process optimization, and more. To synchronize business with their partners and decentralize benefits, Sky Republic creates a trusted and distributed digital twin of a supply chain. Designed to get multi-enterprise applications up and running quickly, Sky Republic’s platform makes supply chain more productive, resilient, and nimble.
SPARK+
SPARK+ is an innovation company specialized in blockchain development with a wide range of expertise and clients across the globe. They believe futuristic platforms need futuristic technologies such as blockchain, AI and ML. SPARK+ helps their clients to leverage these modern technologies for your existing business or new idea.
Those who work for SPARK+ believe that blockchain suits well where it fits well. From Use case analysis to quality delivery SPARK+ makes sure your product enhances its value with the power of blockchain technology. SPARK+ offers several different blockchain services such as; Tokenization, decentralized finance, blockchain network development, app development and integrations, enterprise blockchain solution, and auditing, training and consultation.
And ZorroSign
ZorroSign, of course, is a multi-chain blockchain platform uniting digital signatures with workflow controls and automation, AI/ML form fill, identity-as-a-service (IDaaS), patented fraud prevention, and much more—all written to either the private, permissioned Hyperledger Fabric blockchain or public, permissionless Provenance Blockchain.
ZorroSign opened our global operations hub in Phoenix to be among forward-thinking individuals and organizations that believe in harnessing the power of blockchain for the future. These companies, and many emerging organizations in Arizona, are making the leap to web3 and bringing blockchain technologies to life for businesses, governments and individuals.
(Originally published on LinkedIn by Shamsh Hadi, CEO and Co-Founder of ZorroSign)
Blockchain advocates have long been excited about distributed ledger technology’s potential for cybersecurity, financial services (especially cross-border payments), the Internet of Things (IoT), real estate, and supply chain management. But as we look ahead to 2023, some other interesting markets are worth watching for the latest trends in blockchain use. Here are four industries I believe will accelerate blockchain adoption to their great advantage . . .
Cloud Services
The worldwide public cloud services market, including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS) generated $408.6 billion in 2021 revenues, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC). Big Tech players “Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft have together invested almost $120 billion in the past 12 months,” calculates as recent article in The Economist. “Most of it in data centres and the servers that power them.”
While the cloud services industry is still young, this tremendous growth (and high profit margins) drive innovation. Such innovation will include more blockchain technology in 2023.
For example, “cloud storage is another sector that blockchain can electrify and change. Traditionally, cloud storage companies allow users to purchase a certain amount of storage that is generally sold by the terabyte,” explains a recent Investment Bank article. “Blockchain technology provides users a means to store information on a peer-to-peer network. A cloud storage platform could be run by the nodes that help facilitate transactions. The nodes would be giving up storage on their computers to the consumer, but the node owners would be compensated by the consumers for storing their data.”
More broadly for cloud services, blockchain brings greater privacy and security capabilities. “When cloud computing is integrated with blockchain technology, the main problem, security and privacy, gets addressed,” writes Tanvir Zafar for Yahoo! Finance. “Data deletion from one computer does not erase data stored on other devices on a blockchain network. As a result, there is no danger of data loss or alteration. Data on a blockchain is irremovable. It allows for clear documentation of data usage, including where, when, and how it is being used and by whom. Blockchains are governed by codes, eliminating the need for third-party rules, making them a more secure alternative.”
Such elevated privacy, security, and automation can quickly advance cloud computing—not only delivering greater benefits to consumers, but potentially lowering costs and overhead for providers.
Beyond these improvements to today’s cloud services, blockchain can be added as a service offering itself. “In blockchain-based cloud computing, blockchain can be used for secure network management by hosting the blockchain network as Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) in a cloud environment,” suggests Kenny Kleinerman for Ridge. “BaaS supports IoT applications by offering different blockchain-enabled services, such as smart contract services, verification services on user transactions, and cloud blockchain storage.”
I foresee blockchain as a huge piece of cloud services—both infrastructure and offering—in the years ahead!
Government
At ZorroSign, we have already seen many government agencies, departments, and ministries adopting blockchain for operations. “Governments are likely to begin implementing distributed ledger technology (DLT) systems that will replace traditional paper-based systems,” writes Finnegan Pierson for Chetu. “The migration to digital data systems has been going on for quite some time, but DLT has greater advantages that provide greater trust, transparency and security via encryption and validation features.”
Government organizations can readily improve constituent communications and administration with the innovative adoption of blockchains. For example, blockchain can improve:
Form processing and chain-of-custody tracking of government documents
Identification and elimination of errors in government documents, plus reduce tampering and detect forgery
Operational efficiency by eliminating paper-based records (and related equipment and supplies to print, copy, distribute, and store paper documents)
Cost controls by reducing the expense of manually processing applications, forms, and documentation of all kinds and instead implementing digital records stored on blockchain
In the UAE, for example, H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Digital City Vision for Smart Dubai has been a guiding principle for ZorroSign and other blockchain innovators. For ZorroSign, we share his goal of a paperless life in the UAE by 2030, but Digital Dubai pursues many technologies, as the leaders have found “government effectiveness became increasingly imperative especially in Government to Consumer (G2C) and Government to Government (G2G) services.”
Specific to blockchain, “The Dubai Blockchain strategy will usher in economic opportunity for all sectors in the city, and cement Dubai’s reputation as a global technology leader,” notes the Digital Dubai initiative. “In line with Digital Dubai’s mandate to become a global leader in the smart economy, fueling entrepreneurship and global competitiveness.” Such vision for government is starting in Dubai, but readily seen as critical to future governance in other countries.
Perhaps most exciting, “blockchain technology can end voter fraud,” claims Shivam Arora in an article for Simplilearn. How? With blockchain “people can vote online easily without revealing their identities. Using blockchain, officials can count votes with absolute accuracy, knowing that each ID can be attributed to only one vote. Fraud cannot occur because it is next to impossible with blockchain technology. And, once a vote is added to a ledger, it cannot be changed or erased.” The opportunity to improve voting processes and ensure democratic results will surely keep blockchain in the government focus for years to come.
Law
As blockchain transforms government, so it will transform the law and legal services.
There are many ways blockchain technology is already transforming legal services, writes Steve Glaveski for the NewLaw Academy: “Smart contracts, dispute resolution, IP rights… where The blockchain can support evidence of creation, first use, and rights management, and can track distribution. This ultimately prevents copyright infringement and enforces mitigation via time-stamped copies of work, aiding plaintiffs if appearing before a court. Land and property registries (that today) are notorious for being out of date, decentralized, and restricted. And public service records.”
Again, at ZorroSign we have seen law firms and legal departments start with digital signatures for digital transactions, then quickly expand their use of blockchain to store, track, and manage their contracts and agreements. Contract lifecycle management (or CLM) solutions help attorneys to manage the complex and evolving nature of contracts—making them more efficient at producing, executing, and upholding contractual agreements. Leveraging blockchain, ZorroSign manages contracts as we manage all digital documents, providing digital signatures to quickly execute legally binding contracts, a patented Z-Forensics token to ensure contract immutability, and a document management system built on blockchain for immutable storage.
Consensys, a software foundry providing decentralized software services and apps on Ethereum, believes blockchain can make the legal industry more accessible and more transparent. “Lawyers can leverage blockchain technology to streamline and simplify their transactional work, digitally sign and immutably store legal agreements,” claims a Consensys article. And “blockchain-based contracts have baked-in compliance, no surprises, and no room for misinterpretation.”
As transactions and records move to digital workflows, digital signing ceremonies, and digital storage, blockchain will be a boon to law firms and legal department in 2023 and beyond.
Identity
Finally, with the move to digital commerce and communications, our individual identity—as mapped to digital worlds—becomes increasingly important to control and authenticate.
“Identity systems are currently flawed in a number of ways. They are porous, operate in isolation and prone to error,” adds Finnegan Pierson again in Chetu. “Blockchain systems can solve these problems and provide a single source to verify identity and assets. Blockchain identity can also offer a type of ‘self-sovereignty’ that hasn’t existed before.”
This desire for control over one’s personal information—and digital data across platforms—lies at the heart of web3. While web3 starts with blockchain, its ambition and scope will spread far across the Internet, metaverses, and shared networks.
“Identification and credentials are easier for everyone to work with when they’re digital: vaccination cards, academic qualifications, occupational licenses, employee ID and more. But this highly personal information must remain private and secure,” says IBM. “Governments, businesses and educational institutions are turning to blockchain as a proven way to enable a secure and trusted infrastructure and improve services.”
“One of the most problematic results of the internet age has been identity security,” notes Nathan Reiff for Investopedia. “Blockchain technology has already demonstrated the potential for transforming the way that online identity management takes place. The applications for blockchain and identity management are wide-ranging.”
From cloud services, cybersecurity, and IT to financial services, government, healthcare, legal services, real estate, supply chains, and other industries, blockchain is changing how we do business, share information, and identify ourselves.
These trends are just the start, however, and the opportunities for blockchain to improve the privacy and security of our digital data will flourish in the years ahead.
Contact us to learn more . . . or start a free trial to put our blockchain software for digital signatures to the test!
We use blockchain technology for superior privacy, security, and compliance. Governments, businesses, and individuals around the world trust ZorroSign’s web3 solutions for their digital signatures, digital transactions, and digital document management.
We at ZorroSign recognize that the technology industry is constantly evolving and changing. As new innovations are created and others evolve, we find it important to stay on top of these trends so that we can provide our customers with the most current, useful and secure technology possible.
A report by Fortune Business Insights predicts that the global blockchain market will grow from $7.18 billion in 2022 to $163.83 billion by 2029. With that explosion in growth, here are some recent trends to keep your eye on as more and more blockchain solutions come to market . . .
Environmentally-Friendly Blockchains
While blockchain has brought about amazing transformation in businesses and the tech space, one of the largest obstacles for a future of blockchain is the excessive use of energy needed to run proof-of-work blockchains.
“Bitcoin uses more electricity per transaction than any other method known to mankind,” said Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, in a live-streamed Clubhouse session with CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin in 2021. “And so it’s not a great climate thing.”
However, evolving trends in blockchain technology increasingly focus on developing “greener” blockchain systems. Solutions like carbon offsetting and focusing on bringing less energy-intensive proof-of-stake blockchain architectures are introducing more environmentally-friendly blockchains.
“With the rise of blockchain technology, a number of platforms have emerged that are allowing users to reduce their overall energy consumption by a huge margin,” notes a recent article in Finance Magnates. “For example, Cardano reportedly consumes only 6 GWh of power per annum, while Stellar (XLM), Iota (MIOTA), and Tron, also have extremely low power needs.”
Furthermore, one of the most popular blockchain networks, Ethereum, is moving to a proof-of-stake algorithm this month with “The Merge.” This proof-of-stake validation offers a more sustainable solution for enterprises attempting to make the jump towards greener blockchains.
Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS)
At the intersection of blockchain and cloud computing can now be found Blockchain as a Service (BaaS)—a service offering that allows businesses to use cloud-based solutions to develop, host and adopt their own blockchain applications, smart contracts and other relevant functions on the blockchain. Here, the cloud-based IT partner or service provider manages all the required tasks and activities to keep the distributed ledger infrastructure up and running.
BaaS allows organizations to focus on operations and key tasks, and it reduces the technical difficulties and the need to purchase expensive technology solutions. Based on the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, this third-party service delivers the installation, configuration, monitoring, and maintenance of the infrastructure. Moreover, this blockchain technology trend offers the ability to take benefit of blockchain features without the need to learn difficult coding.
Companies like Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, SAP, and others have already implemented it BaaS and we will continue to see other businesses make the leap.
Metaverse and Web3
Web3 refers to the next generation of the internet that will be decentralized, open, and run on blockchain. In its current form, web2 is overwhelmingly dominated by Big Tech corporations that use, control, and monetize the personal data of its users.
The dream of web3 is to break the centralization of information and democratize the Internet more to the vision of its earliest founders. “Web3,” claims Chris Dixon from Andreesen Horowitz in an article in The Economist, “combines the decentralized, community-governed ethos of web1 with the advanced, modern functionality of web2.”
Web3 “will be based on the convergence of emerging technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and augmented reality,” notes Neeti Aggarwal and Dandreb Salangsang in The Asian Banker. “It will be characterized by decentralized data, a more transparent and secure environment, machine cognitive intelligence and three-dimensional design.”
Web3 advocates claim that the technology will give users back control over their data through decentralized applications.
The metaverse is essentially described as an immersive 3D world that users can transport themselves into for work, play, and communication by using a combination of VR, AR, and other advanced technologies. Blockchain is a driving force behind many aspects of the Metaverse, including NFTs, gaming, payment methods, virtual real estate, and even identity authentication.
The idea of the metaverse is sometimes inaccurately conflated with Web3. But while it’s built on Web3, the metaverse—or metaverses, given that there are many—is about user experience and arguably about web culture as much as the tech on which it relies.
The metaverse will become a virtual world that will provide its users with unforgettable digital experiences. And built on blockchain technologies, the more popular the metaverse becomes, then the more blockchains are deployed and engaged.
At ZorroSign, we love learning the latest trends in blockchain technology so that we can continue to provide the most secure and user-friendly digital signatures platform available. Put our blockchain to the test by signing up for a free trial at https://www.zorrosign.com/new/.
The user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) of technologies, especially web-based solutions and apps, are critical to such technologies’ market success. “Taking advantage of the benefits of great UI/UX design is more vital than most people realize,” explains Eliza Brooks in a JumpStory article on design. “Everyone wants to experience and have the best technology, while at the same time not wasting any precious time.”
“If users cannot use your product and access all of its features, your prospects of success are greatly reduced,” notes Digital Solutions. “This usability factor is where the realms of User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) enter the picture. A great User Interface will draw people to your app right away, while a great User Experience will leave a lasting impression on your users.”
At ZorroSign, we have taken this truth to heart and are proud to unveil our entirely redesigned UI/UX for the next generation of our multi-chain blockchain platform for digital signatures!
To begin, a quick definition of UI and UX may be helpful. “Generally speaking, UX is the one that ensures your digital platform works smoothly—including pleasant and accessible designs, a clear and concise user journey, simple navigation processes, responsiveness, etc.,” explains a recent Wire Delta article. “On the other hand, User Interface or UI Design is for just that—the interface. In other words, UI takes care of typography, layouts, colors, graphic design, and visual design. So, while it is helping customers interact with different digital products and services, it does not consider the user journey.”
In other words, the UX is the sum of the whole—the complete experience a user has of using a specific UI, engaging its features and functionality, and generating whatever outcomes the technology produces—functionality, information, calculation, etc.
While the UI is the environment of the screen or app, the physical engagement and interaction via clicks, buttons, form entry, and all other inputs and outputs.
“User interface elements usually fall into one of the following four categories,” write Maria de la Rivva for Career Foundry. “Input Controls, Navigation Components, Informational Components, Containers. Input controls allow users to input information into the system. If you need your users to tell you what country they are in, for example, you’ll use an input control to let them do so. Navigational components help users move around a product or website. Common navigational components include tab bars on an iOS device and a hamburger menu on an Android. Informational components share information with users. Containers hold related content together.”
So UX is the total experience of using a technology, while UI is the tactical, direct engagement of the technologies interface.
Why Your UI/UX Must Continuously Evolve
“User Interface (UI) updates present an exciting opportunity for design teams to reinvigorate stale experiences, address issues, and explore future iterations,” writes Ayana Campbell Smith for Envy Labs. “It’s never a question of if interface updates will be necessary, but instead, when.”
For an innovative technology company, resting on the laurels of a successful product is simply not good enough. Innovators must continuously revisit, refine, and improve their solutions to ensure their great technologies are also great experiences for their customers, clients, users, and prospects.
A well-designed user interface delivers five key user experiences according to GeeksforGeeks:
Simplicity—which is to say, the minimum clicks or keystrokes to achieve a task
Consistency—across typeface, style, size, and components to deliver information with minimal chaos and ambiguity
Intuitiveness—input and navigation that is easy to learn, with concise and cogent icons and labels
Prevention—readily prevent users from performing inaccurate/inappropriate actions on the site by steering them always to the correct functions
Forgiveness—a quick way back/out if users find themselves in functions or content they did not mean to engage
Perhaps equally important, users’ expectations for simplicity, consistency, intuitiveness, prevention, and forgiveness evolve over time—especially as new technologies come to market and reshape their expectations. Recall for example the leap in UI expectations from desktop computers (keyboard and mouse), to our expectations on mobile phones or tablets (touchscreen or voice command)! Evolving technologies produce evolving user expectations and needs for UI/UX.
The Value of Great UI/UX
“A strong and valuable user experience offers a business a strong competitive advantage in attracting and retaining their customers,” continues Brooks. She calls out five critical benefits to a strong user experience, including:
Improving customer acquisition—”The more aesthetically pleasing a brand’s site design is, and the more intuitive the features are, the easier it is for them to build trust and thus increase the chances of the brand attracting users and quite possibly converting them into customers”
Helping with customer retention—delivering an intuitive, beautiful experience brings people back to that experience!
Optimizing development time and costs—by focusing on the customer experience, development teams can more “easily pinpoint and address usability issues” and “anticipate the needs of users before releasing the solution to a wider audience”
Increasing productivity—efficient UI/UX design streamlines tasks, work, and outcomes
Generating more user engagement—for example, employing UI design that is instructive, clearly conveying the help/benefits of engaging a specific page or functionality
“Investing in an effective Ul/UX design increases customer satisfaction, resulting in satisfied customers,” continues Digital Solutions. “People like to work for companies that make them happy. Ultimately, this will improve your firm’s credibility as a client and fosters positive associations with your company and brand. As a result, the worth of your company and your brand name will shoot up and increase.”
At ZorroSign, we agree completely!
“Digital products with a good user interface give you a competitive edge in a constantly growing world where companies are starting to realize the importance of good user experience,” says Tiffany Eaton for UX Collective. We realize this truth and are excited to share the new UI/UX we bring to market.
Contact us to learn more about ZorroSign’s completely redesigned UI/UX for 2022 . . . or start your free trial to put our next generation user interface to the test!
With new technologies constantly coming to market, companies must make an effort to be innovate in order to stay relevant and not get left behind.
ZorroSign is committed to continuous technology innovation and our achievements have been recognized with the following awards over the past year:
ZorroSign was awarded a gold Stevie in the Blockchain Solution category at the 18th Annual International Business Awards at the end of 2021. We were also recognized with two bronze Stevie® Awards for Company of The Year – Computer Software and Most Innovative Tech Company of The Year.
According to the judges, ZorroSign “pushes the needle on innovation,” demonstrates “great use of blockchain and Hyperledger to solve signature issues,” is “one of the few companies that are able to use blockchain technology to solve a real business problem,” and declares, “blockchain is the future of digital signature.”
We could not be more proud of this recognition and the Stevie judges’ comments!
APAC Business Headlines
APAC Business Headlines praised ZorroSign’s commitment to delivering superior privacy and security, as well as the company’s ability to make a difference through sustainable practices. You can read the magazine article at https://www.apacbusinessheadlines.com/Blockchain-2-web-version/ZorroSign/
Insights Success
And in July 2022, ZorroSign announced our appearance on Insights Success cover as one of the “Ten Most Innovative FinTech Solution Providers in 2022.”
Insights Success celebrated ZorroSign’s multi-chain blockchain platform as a groundbreaking solution in financial technologies and driving force for blockchain and web3.
“We are thrilled to be recognized by Insights Success and counted amongst the most innovative fintech solutions providers today,” said Shamsh Hadi, co-founder and CEO of ZorroSign, Inc. “As most financial service providers currently deploy legacy technologies, the opportunity for early adopters to leap ahead with blockchain solutions—such as ZorroSign—becomes an asset and key competitive advantage.”
ZorroSign continues to create and use new technologies, driving both industry innovation and greater sustainability. On August 15th we will be launching our completely redesigned next generation platform—including upgrades to our user experience, user interface, new features, security, compliance and system updates.
Contact us to learn more . . . or start your free trial to put our innovative digital signature software to the test!
(Originally published on LinkedIn by Shamsh Hadi, CEO and Co-Founder of ZorroSign)
Last year, I shared how ZorroSign’s early roots in Dubai, UAE, helped us grow into an international company. I want to update that theme today and talk about ZorroSign’s role as a global company providing global solutions that improve data democratization, privacy, and security.
As CEO and co-founder of ZorroSign, I have dedicated my career to advancing technology while simultaneously advancing sustainability: Ensuring the new technologies we bring to market elevate information privacy, data security, and data democratization while not coming at the expense of future generations.
At ZorroSign, we saw very early a market need to push past web2 solutions for digital signatures and digital transactions—escaping centralized information architectures that consolidate data with a provider (and expose that data to the risks of single-point-of-failure cyber-attacks) while simultaneously pulling data ownership away from users (to be housed and monetized by the web2 provider). Alternatively, ZorroSign empowers our users by deploying web3 solutions that decentralize data and ensure users will always own their documents and transaction metadata—even after their subscriptions with us end.
Dubai Start, Dubai Strong
As a long-time resident of Dubai, I was greatly inspired by the Digital City Vision—Smart Dubai of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. ZorroSign’s technology very purposefully supports Dubai’s paperless initiatives for Digital Dubai and helps to advance Dubai’s leadership in digital operations, specifically focused on:
Security—providing superior digital privacy and security by leveraging a private, permissioned blockchain technology
Digital Signatures—a platform that is easy-to-use and legally compliant to global standards
Chain of Custody—delivering immutable records of every step of every digital transaction: Authenticating users, securing data, and verifying documents for legal enforceability
Advancing UAE’s 10 Principles for the Next 50 Years—specifically helping Dubai to build the best and most dynamic economy in the world; defining new UAE development with digital, technical, and scientific excellence; and promoting a value system based on openness and tolerance
Initially, our company served government departments in UAE but soon grew into an international business—helping people to build, sign, store, and track mission-critical documents on the blockchain in Sri Lanka, India, and the United States.
Last year, ZorroSign was named Blockchain SaaS Innovator of the Year at the UAE Business Awards 2021, then at the turn of the year, Unlock News Desk showcased a story on UAE Based ZorroSign introducing six new features to our blockchain platform.
This spring, Tech Channel wrote a great article on ZorroSign making waves in digital signature space using blockchain technology, and TahawulTech.com interviewed me on how ZorroSign helps tackle identity theft on our now multi-chain blockchain platform.
I am incredibly proud of our continued success in my home town, and while ZorroSign expands our global presence, the UAE and other Gulf Cooperation Council countries will be a strategic market for us.
Success in South Asia
From the start, ZorroSign has had close ties with the south Asia countries of India and Sri Lanka. While operations started in Dubai, our development center of excellence has always been in Colombo!
Our blockchain architecture was conceived, coded, and cultivated entirely in Sri Lanka with a vision to provide global customers with the ability to securely transform paper-based workflows to digital operations. I could not be prouder of our Sri Lanka team, and though they are struggling through that beautiful country’s difficult political and economic crisis, they have proven again and again the resilience and tenacity of their engineering genius.
Recently, APAC Business Headlines recognized the ZorroSign team as the “Most Innovative Blockchain Company from Sri Lanka” for 2022! The award validates the hard work of our center of excellence team, and further proves blockchain’s prominence on the global stage.
This recognition followed our 2021 success where the International Business Awards® named ZorroSign a Gold Stevie® Award Winner for Blockchain Solutions. The Stevie’s are the world’s premier business awards program, where in 2021 more than 3,700 nominations from organizations across 63 nations and territories—of all sizes and in virtually every industry—were submitted for recognition. We were delighted to be awarded a gold Stevie for our blockchain solution and to be recognized as a Company of the Year, and Most Innovative Tech Company of the Year. Most flattering, the judges were quick to note that ZorroSign is “one of the few companies that are able to use blockchain technology to solve a real business problem” . . . a strong endorsement of our digital signature technology, built on blockchain, and paired with identity-as-a-service (IDaaS) and patented fraud detection, to authenticate users and verify documents across digital transactions.
Tackling North American Markets
As a U.S. citizen who has lived in Canada, China, and the UAE at various times over the past forty years, my goal was always to return home and bring ZorroSign’s blockchain solutions to North American users.
In August 2020, we opened our global operations hub in Phoenix, Arizona—ushering in a new phase of business growth. We quickly established local partnerships with Arizona State University, Grand Canyon State University, the Arizona Commerce Authority, Arizona Technology Council, City of Phoenix, Global Chamber®, the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, and many other incredible organizations!
And we’ve engaged government agencies, financial services providers, IT businesses (and departments), legal services firms, real estate companies, and several other verticals to prove the value of a paperless life and the most private, secure, compliant digital transactions hosted on blockchain. Early adopters of our web3 solutions are excited to embrace ZorroSign’s robust platform to advance their digital operations and gain a competitive advantage in a market place still dominated by legacy, web2 technologies.
Global Privacy and Security Compliance
Our unique combination of blockchain architecture, web3 technologies, artificial intelligence/machine learning, and patented fraud prevention grants ZorroSign compliance across many international standards for privacy and security.
The list continues to grow as we expand our markets, but already includes:
Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)
Canada’s Uniform Electronic Commerce Act (UECA)
The European Union’s Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for data privacy and security
EU’s electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services (eIDAS) regulation
India’s Information Technology Act 2000 (IT Act of India)
International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) No. 3402, Type II audited
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 27001 certified
PDF Advanced Electronic Signatures (PAdES) is a set of restrictions and extensions to PDF and ISO 32000-1
The UAE’s Federal Law No. 1 of 2006 regarding Electronic Transactions and E-Commerce granting electronic signatures legal force and effect
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) SOC 2 Type I audit
USA’s California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
USA’s Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) encryption standards
USA’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
USA’s Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-Sign Act)
USA’s FDA Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations; Electronic Records; Electronic Signatures
USA’s Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
USA’s Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA)
I am proud of all ZorroSign has achieved for our international customers and incredibly excited about some big announcements later this summer! ZorroSign is truly a global company delivering global solutions, and we are not resting on our laurels—the best is yet to come.
Contact us to learn more . . . or start your free trial to put our digital signature software to the test!
The Arizona Technology Council and Phoenix Business RadioX are proud to host monthly podcasts on technology events, forecasts, issues, and trends. For the July 27th podcast, hosts Karen Nowicki and Steven Zylstra invited experts from DocSolid, OnStream Software, and ZorroSign to discuss how digital transformation can reimagine customer interactions.
Steve Irons of DocSolid, Tiffany Ma of OneStream Software, and Kristen Harder of ZorroSign spoke on the importance of digital transformation for businesses, issues and obstacles businesses often encounter when moving to digital, how DocSolid, OneStream, and ZorroSign help companies transition from paper-based operations to digital, business benefits beyond faster digital processes, future trends, and predictions for the next ten years of digital transformation.
ZorroSign Brings the Elevated Security and Compliance Standards that Your Real Estate Business Needs
Many in the real estate industry have made the jump into digital operations and this has allowed them to conduct business on the go while elevating their client’s security and compliance needs.
Only ZorroSign pairs a web3 transaction platform with mobile technology—delivering 21st century security to the age-old ceremony of signing and storing purchase agreements, and giving your customers peace of mind needed when conducting real estate transactions digitally and remotely.
Here are three reasons that you need to make the switch to digital operations with ZorroSign . . .
Give Your Client Peace of Mind
By using ZorroSign, all the parties involved in a real estate transaction can Z-Sign documents anywhere, anytime and from their preferred device. That’s a win for everyone—especially the client! You no longer have to patiently wait through the frustratingly slow process that is paper operations. And they can keep up with their busy schedule and buy that house all while saving time and money. ZorroSign relieves you from being tied to the office or one particular place and lets you and your clients sign, send, and track documents while on-the-go.
Ensure Elevated Security
ZorroSign is the only company that offers a multi-blockchain platform to secure, track, and manage your digital signatures, transactions, and documentation.
By using distributed ledger technologies—originally built on Hyperledger Fabric and recently expanded to include the Provenance Blockchain—ZorroSign provides superior privacy and security, offering peace of mind for your real estate digital transactions, while preventing fraud and ensuring regulatory compliance.
How does this blockchain architecture contribute to ZorroSign being the best platform for your real estate needs?
Blockchain provides structural layers of protection from cybercrime, like ransomware, malware, or phishing attacks: First, by decentralizing the data set itself (preventing any one breach to access the entire data set); and second, by giving endpoints (or nodes) a quick path to recovery, even if they are themselves breached or their access ransomed.
Unlike centralized databases which can be breached at unsecure endpoints (users and devices)—or even at managed service providers (MSPs) hosting them—giving attackers complete control once they gain central access, blockchain technology distributes data physically across separate nodes. By decentralizing data storage, blockchain effectively prevents any one endpoint (even if compromised) from gaining control of the full data set.
This distributed nature so defeats any attack seeking to breach a system and holistically encrypts the data files stored inside: A single endpoint node might be breached, and its files held for ransom, but the larger data set cannot be controlled by any one endpoint (or central authority) and so attackers cannot capture the full data set for encryption, ransom, and shutting down the network.
ZorroSign intentionally used blockchain as the framework of our business to ensure that our customers were able to experience elevated security and peace of mind.
Stay Compliant
With ZorroSign, you can easily complete and sign multiple mandatory documents and ensure compliance at every stage—we are proud to make the security and privacy of our customers’ data our top focus!
Our unique combination of security architecture and data privacy functionality grants ZorroSign compliance across international standards for privacy and security, including but not limited to:
Canada: The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)
Canada: The Uniform Electronic Commerce Act (UECA)
EU: Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for data privacy and security
EU: The electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services (eIDAS) regulation
India: The Information Technology Act 2000 (IT Act of India)
International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) No. 3402, Type II audited
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 27001 certified
PDF Advanced Electronic Signatures (PAdES) is a set of restrictions and extensions to PDF and ISO 32000-1
UAE: Federal Law No. 1 of 2006 regarding Electronic Transactions and E-Commerce granting electronic signatures legal force and effect
USA: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) SOC 2 Type I audit
USA: California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
USA: Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) encryption standards
USA: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
USA: The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-Sign Act)
USA: FDA Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations; Electronic Records; Electronic Signatures
USA: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
USA: The Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA)
We are proud of our multi-chain blockchain platform at ZorroSign—delivering digital signatures paired with identity-as-a-service (IDaaS) technologies, a patented fraud prevention solution, AI/ML-driven form completion, and customizable workflows to ensure the highest privacy, security, and compliance for your digital transactions!
But while we live-and-breathe digital signatures, you might still be learning how digital signatures work and what benefits they might bring to your organization. We can help!
Below find some common questions we hear about digital signatures and short answers to get you started . . .
1. Are digital signatures legally accepted/enforceable like paper-based signatures?
Yes! Back in 2000, the U.S. passed the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce (ESIGN) Act along with the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) granting electronic signatures the full strength and legality of paper-based “wet” signatures. As such, digital signatures are valid in all 50 U.S. states, plus most countries around the world.
Beyond the United States, Australia’s Electronic Transactions Act, Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), China’s 2004 Electronic Signature Law, the European Union’s Directive 199/93/EC, India’s Information Technology (IT) Act 2000, Japan’s Law Concerning Electronic Signatures and Certification Services, New Zealand’s Electronic Transactions Act, the UAE’s Federal Law No. 1 of 2006 regarding Electronic Transactions and E-Commerce, the United Kingdom’s Electronic Communications Act and subsequent Electronic Signatures Regulation 2002, all regulate and support the legal enforceability of digital signatures around the world.
2. Why do companies, governments, or other organizations typically switch from paper-based to digital signatures?
Public and private organizations move to digital signatures for many different reasons, for example:
Some switch to save the costs of paper-based document printing, copying, couriering, and storage
Some switch to speed transaction workflows, document signing ceremonies, and execution of legal agreements
Some seek to improve regulatory/quality compliance with the digital management of transaction and personal information
Some want to improve the privacy and security of documents and transactions through digital encryption and security protocols
Some aspire to improve customer/constituent experiences with digital and mobile operations
Some are looking for the competitive advantage digital operations bring with all these benefits
Why are you considering the move to digital signatures?
3. With digital signatures, how do we know the person signing is really who they say/are supposed to be?
While some digital signature platforms grant access via simple username and password, the industry standard is two-factor authentication and rapidly evolving to MFA with password-less logins.
With ZorroSign, we’ve integrated identity-as-a-service (IDaaS) technologies to verify users, for example:
ZorroSign technology leverages the biometric capabilities of hardware endpoints to verify user identities.
ZorroSign is the first to adopt password-less login amongst our digital signature competitors.
ZorroSign MFA provides maximum security, as before a user can sign a document, our platform can validate multiple dimensions of authentication based on the transaction security needs, such as:
What you know (i.e., your ZorroSign login password),
What you have (e.g., your laptop or mobile device),
Who you are (e.g., biometrics such as fingerprints or eye iris on the device securing who can access it), etc.
Additionally, ZorroSign users can optionally use our dynamic knowledge-based authentication (KBA) feature—provided by LexisNexis—which requires the knowledge of confidential information of the individual to prove that the person providing identity information is the actual person.
These technologies secure the endpoints of our private, permissioned Hyperledger Fabric blockchain architecture where only approved nodes (endpoints) are allowed to access our distributed ledger system.
4. How Does ZorroSign Use Blockchain and Web3 Technologies for Digital Signatures?
ZorroSign is the first company that offers a multi-blockchain platform to secure, track, and manage your digital signatures, transactions, and documentation!
Since 2000, several technologies have come to market to deliver digital signatures, but when a distributed ledger technology—or DLT, such as blockchain—is used for digital signatures, signers gain the unique advantages of:
Privacy — with a private blockchain, only participants to the transaction can see details of the transaction, and those participants share equal access to such details
Immutability — all records and changes are tracked and cannot be changed, providing important chain-of-custody audit capabilities for courts
Security — all records are individually encrypted and distributed for better protection from phishing and ransomware attacks
ZorroSign was built from the ground up on Hyperledger Fabric to deliver digital signatures with the superior privacy and security of blockchain.
Assuming contracts are critical to your business or organization, then a secure, reliable solution for contract lifecycle management (CLM) is imperative and blockchain supports CLM in amazing ways.
Strong CLM solutions must include visibility (a dashboard or overview of where individual contracts are in the life cycle), integration with communications and storage systems, automation (as few contracts start from scratch—most are iterations of previously created agreements), and of course change tracking to readily see how contracts changed during negotiations and what final version was executed by all parties.
With our blockchain architecture, ZorroSign’s platform unites and uniquely delivers:
Digital signatures via Z-Sign to quickly execute legally binding contracts
Patented Z-Forensics token to prevent fraud and tampering
Z-Flow workflow automation to quickly build templates and approval chains
Z-Verify to know exactly who signed what and when, with full validation of every document’s authenticity and immutability
Z-Vault to securely store contract and transaction records immutably on blockchain
ZorroSign’s platform can be accessed via PCs and mobile devices, allowing your legal department, operations and procurement teams, and sales teams to efficiently generate, negotiate, communicate, and sign agreements. And with our Z-Vault, contracts reside on an immutable document management system (DMS) where they can be saved, searched for, and managed easily from a single, intuitive user interface.
5. How Do Digital Signatures Meet International Privacy and Security Compliance?
At ZorroSign, we are proud to make the security and privacy of our customers’ data our top focus.
Our unique combination of security architecture and data privacy functionality grants ZorroSign compliance across international standards for privacy and security, including but not limited to:
Canada: The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)
Canada: The Uniform Electronic Commerce Act (UECA)
EU: Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for data privacy and security
EU: The electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services (eIDAS) regulation
India: The Information Technology Act 2000 (IT Act of India)
International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) No. 3402, Type II audited
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 27001 certified
PDF Advanced Electronic Signatures (PAdES) is a set of restrictions and extensions to PDF and ISO 32000-1
UAE: Federal Law No. 1 of 2006 regarding Electronic Transactions and E-Commerce granting electronic signatures legal force and effect
USA: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) SOC 2 Type I audit
USA: California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
USA: Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) encryption standards
USA: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
USA: The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-Sign Act)
USA: FDA Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations; Electronic Records; Electronic Signatures
USA: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
USA: The Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA)
6. How much does it cost to try digital signature software and learn if it’s right for me?
ZorroSign offers a free 14-day trial license to test out our features, securely sign digital documents, build templates and approval workflows, and store your transaction data on blockchain.
No credit card required, visit our Free Trial page to get started!
June 30th, 2022 marks the 22nd anniversary of the U.S. Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN Act)—a critical piece of legislation that ensures “a signature, contract, or other record relating to such [commercial] transaction may not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form.”
In 2010, both Houses of Congress passed a resolution recognizing June 30th thereafter as National ESIGN Day!
If you’re a fast-growing business or organization that still uses pen and paper to sign your mission-critical documents or uses a different digital signature solution, here are three reasons why you should start using ZorroSign on this day we commemorate the global adoption of digital signatures . . .
Elevated Privacy and Security
ZorroSign was built from the ground up on Hyperledger Fabric—one of the most trusted private blockchains—to deliver digital signatures with the superior privacy and security of blockchain. “Hyperledger Fabric is a permissioned blockchain where each component and actor has an identity, and policies define access control and governance,” explains Hyperledger’s Security Model. “Each of these actors has a digital identity encapsulated in an X.509 digital certificate issued by a Certificate Authority (CA). These identities matter because they determine the exact permissions over resources and access to information that actors have in a blockchain network.”
Further, ZorroSign incorporates Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS) to authenticate users across multiple dimensions, such as what you know (your login password), what you have (your laptop or mobile device), and who you are (biometrics such as fingerprints or eye iris on the device securing who can access it), etc.
All that being said, with the amount of cybercrime that is present today, it is vital that you have peace of mind that your information and critical documents are private and secure, and ZorroSign provides that solution for you and your business.
Helps Reduce Errors and Omissions (E&O)
Make your critical document form-fill completion process smarter, faster and more accurate using ZorroSign’s automated engine, Z-Fill.
Built with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to speed form completion and increase accuracy, ZorroSign’s Z-Fill feature helps your customers fill forms with ease by anticipating entries, reducing errors by matching profile information to form-fill options, and learning from historical form-fills to anticipate more and more entries over time.
Plus all of your documents can be stored on ZorroSign’s Z-Vault for regulatory compliance and the immutability of signed documents, metadata, and workflow records. Z-Vault enables you to store, structure, organize and search documents in folders and subfolders natively, with the peace of mind that comes from superior blockchain privacy and security.
Available in Multiple Cloud Configurations
On top of providing the security and compliance features that your company and customers need, ZorroSign’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) model can be deployed in various cloud configurations, making it seamless to integrate into your existing platform.
Our standard deployment is on Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud computing network
In our private cloud configuration, all your data and the ZorroSign application run in a private and secure cloud network dedicated to your organization
In a hybrid cloud configuration, your data can be stored on either ZorroSign data centers or in the private cloud, while the ZorroSign platform and applications run on their standard public cloud configurations
On-premise deployments require your department to manage and maintain your own data centers, but gain the benefits of unlimited API calls and total control over identity access management (IAM), data privacy and security, and data integrity processes
If you’re ready to try ZorroSign’s multi-chain blockchain platform for yourself on National ESIGN Day, start your Free Trial today!
In today’s global economy, there are lots of bad actors and threats to your digital information. Whether you work for a government agency, a business, an IT department, a law firm, a financial service provider, or just about any other organization generating and storing digital data, your information—and your customers’ or constituents’ information—must be protected.
ZorroSign’s U.S. headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona brings blockchain technology to U.S. companies, organizations, and individuals signing digital documents and executing transactions digitally.
“If you’re looking for a secure way to transact with third parties or multi-parties,” says Robert Vera from GCU‘s Canyon Ventures Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, “ZorroSign is that technology that you need to have confidence that your transactions are secure in today’s environment.”
If you’re ready to try ZorroSign’s multi-chain blockchain platform for yourself—for superior privacy and security for all your digital signatures and transactions—start a Free Trial today!
Our CEO and co-founder, Shamsh Hadi, was recently interviewed by two technology news outlets—Tech Channel News and TahawulTech.com.
Tech Channel News helps C-level executives in India and Gulf identify technologies and strategies to empower and streamline business processes. Their portal at techchannel.news informs leaders of what’s new in tech and why it matters.
TahawulTech.com, published by CPI Media Group, is the definitive platform in the Middle East for IT content. Covering stories across enterprise technology, cybersecurity and the region’s IT channel industry, TahawulTech.com brings business leaders and technology decision makers together to share their stories of transformation.
Here are short summaries of those interviews and links to read the original pieces!
ZorroSign Making Waves in Digital Signature Space Using Blockchain Technology
In April 2022, Tech Channel News’ Naushad K. Cherrayil interviewed Mr. Hadi on how ZorroSign safeguards the privacy and security of digital documents, and provides an immutable chain of custody for digital transactions, for governments and organizations in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries.
The article notes that there are “huge players in the digital signature space, but none of them have figured out how to cost-effectively map their legacy software in technologies and evolve it into Web 3.0 and blockchain solutions today.”
“We have solved all these problems,” said Hadi. “Successfully bringing blockchain to digital signatures—unlike other competitors, big and small, who simply tried to add blockchain onto their legacy software.”
The article explores ZorroSign’s roots in Dubai with development in Sri Lanka, moving the company’s global headquarters to Phoenix, and standing out from the crowd in a competitive eSignature space.
“Our platform was invented to move documentation, digital transactions from a relationship built on trust to a relationship built on truth, providing customers the ability to positively impact the environment with sustainable practices and securely transform their paper-based workloads to digital in a bid to remove errors and increase productivity,” Hadi added.
Tech Channel News uncovers how ZorroSign leverages blockchain’s zero-trust environment to support governments in the Gulf who are looking specifically for blockchain solutions, noting “two countries that are pushing forward are the UAE and Saudi Arabia.”
In May 2022, TahawulTech.com’s Anita Joseph interviewed Mr. Hadi on how ZorroSign not only provides digital signatures built on a blockchain architecture, but also integrates identity-as-a-service (IDaaS), biometrics, KBAs, and patented Z-Forensics token to prevent fraud and address identity theft risks.
Ms. Joseph also starts with ZorroSign’s founding in Dubai and how HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Digital City Vision for Smart Dubai has been a guiding principle for ZorroSign—including his goal of a paperless life in the UAE by 2030.
The article then talks of identity theft and how ZorroSign technologies confront the issue: “Not only does our web3 platform leverage the cryptographic security capabilities of blockchain,” said Hadi. “But it also integrates Identity-as-a-Service technologies into our solution set to combat fraud, identity theft, and cyber-attacks.”
Security trends, cybercrime, and various cyber-attacks are discussed, as well as how distributed ledger technologies such as blockchain can help defend and/or recover from such attack vectors. The article ends with ZorroSign’s plans for 2022 and early verticals benefitting from blockchain-based digital signatures.
Learn more about how ZorroSign helps governments, companies, and individuals around the world with digital signatures and maintaining privacy and security with their digital transactions: Contact us today or start your Free Trial.
If you work in real estate, you understand the need to provide superior customer service to close deals. Only ZorroSign pairs a web3 transaction platform with mobile technology—delivering 21st century security to the age-old ceremony of signing and storing agreements, and giving your customers peace of mind needed when conducting real estate transactions digitally and remotely.
ZorroSign not only delivers superior privacy and security through our multi-chain blockchain transaction platform, but also ensures that your real estate deals are closed with ease, elevating the customer experience and saving time and money.
Improve Your Customer Service
U.S. real estate deals have already moved from paper-based to digital experiences and processes. Evolving towards newer technology has allowed for real estate agents to close deals faster and from anywhere in the world—you no longer have to meet in person to deliver physical papers in order for your clients to sign.
While there are many technology platforms that provide the option to sign and store documents, real estate firms and agents not only need a digital experience that is fast and efficient, but they need one that they can trust with their information and their customers’ information.
This is where ZorroSign comes in!
Built on blockchain, ZorroSign’s unique digital signature solution makes contracts, counter-offers, purchases, and amendments accurate, faster, easier, and more secure than ever.
Here is what Mr. Richard Green from enTrust Escrow and Title says after using ZorroSign as his transaction platform:
“This is a game changer for our company. Our customers are very impressed with the technology and the ease of use. They appreciate that their escrow can be tracked on their mobile devices anywhere and anytime. In most cases, escrow officers have been able to reduce the time it takes to complete a transaction and the fact that every step is recorded online ensures that all parties are aware at the same time.
“The escrow officers also love using this solution as it also helps keep a check and balance on them as well. Overall this is a great solution that the management have implemented and I hope that customers will refer others to us since we are using the best technology today.”
enTrust & Title Company
ZorroSign helps bring your real estate business into the digital age: Speeding customer processes and service, helping your organization “go green” with paperless operations, and allowing you to serve customers from anywhere, anytime!
Close deals faster
It is no secret that there are a lot of moving parts when it comes to real estate. This often makes it difficult to nail down a time and place to meet with customers for signatures. With ZorroSign’s transaction platform, everyone can sign and send documents when they are prepared, allowing the platform to transmit documents to the other agents, saving time for everyone with an efficient digital workflow.
This is especially helpful for you as an agent or broker, since it frees you up to keep the transaction moving while you are on-the-go. When you are dealing with a quick turnaround in a multiple-offer situation, signing and sending documents online can be the difference in closing the deal!
With our patented, legally binding, fully automated digital signature technology, ZorroSign’s platform enables you to skip the print/sign/scan process, stop chasing paper signatures, and instead sign and send digital documents from anywhere—all the while monitoring a policy document’s current status from the ZorroSign dashboard.
Automate With Z-Fill
Finally, with our intelligent form-fill process, Z-Fill, ZorroSign’s platform allows you to digitize documents, eliminate the paperchase and improve efficiency, while speeding up the process of filling out forms.
According to the National Association of REALTORS®, members rely on repeat clients and referrals from past clients for 30% of their business. With ZorroSign’s Z-Fill technology, you can save time and ensure that clients sign and fill out forms correctly—every time. Z-Fill can help you complete real estate agreements faster and with ease, improving your customer experience and winning repeat and referral business.
Block it down! Now, you can count on regulatory compliance and the immutability of your signed documents within your stored data and workflow records on ZorroSign’s blockchain.
Z-Vault enables ZorroSign platform users to store, structure, organize and search documents in folders and subfolders natively, with the peace of mind that comes from superior privacy and security.
Digital Signatures on Blockchain
Since 2000, several technologies have come to market to deliver digital signatures, but when a distributed ledger technology—or DLT, such as blockchain—is used for digital signatures, signers gain the unique advantages of:
Privacy — with a private blockchain, only participants to the transaction can see details of the transaction, and those participants share equal access to such details
Immutability — all records and changes are tracked and cannot be changed, providing important chain-of-custody audit capabilities for courts
Security — all records are individually encrypted and distributed for better protection from phishing and ransomware attacks
ZorroSign was built from the ground up on Hyperledger Fabric to deliver digital signatures with the superior privacy and security of blockchain. And we recently announced a partnership with Provence Blockchain to add their DLT to our architecture as well, effectively becoming a multi-chain blockchain platform.
Z-Vault for Better Contract Lifecycle Management
Contract lifecycle management, or CLM, spans the entire process of generating contracts, the workflows of approving and negotiating changes to contracts, the signing (or executing) of the contracts, storing and archiving the executed contracts, plus tracking and audit trails to retrieve contracts and review their lifecycle of approvals, iterations, and signatures.
If contracts are critical to your business or organization, then a secure, reliable solution for managing the contract life cycle is imperative.
Key functionality to look for when assessing CLM solutions include visibility (a dashboard or overview of where individual contracts are in the life cycle), integration with communications and storage systems, automation (as few contracts start from scratch—most are iterations of previously created agreements), and of course change tracking to readily see how contracts changed during negotiations and what final version was executed by all parties.
ZorroSign’s platform unites and uniquely delivers:
Digital signatures via Z-Sign to quickly execute legally binding contracts
Patented Z-Forensics token to prevent fraud and tampering
Z-Flow workflow automation to quickly build templates and approval chains
Z-Verify to know exactly who signed what and when, with full validation of every document’s authenticity and immutability
Z-Vault to securely store contract and transaction records immutably on blockchain
ZorroSign’s platform can be accessed via PCs and mobile devices, allowing your legal department, operations and procurement teams, and sales teams to efficiently generate, negotiate, communicate, and sign agreements. And with our Z-Vault, contracts reside on an immutable DMS where they can be saved, searched for, and managed easily from a single, intuitive user interface.
Z-Vault Benefits
Superior privacy and security to PKI-based solutions using a centralized database
The latest privacy and security technologies, delivering powerful encryption safeguards
Ability to share and review eSign and architectural drawings, adding your own comments
Time savings with access to specific folders and documents in seconds, no loss of records
ZorroSign Privacy & Security Compliance
Our combination of security architecture and data privacy functionality ensure your compliance across many international standards for privacy and security, including:
Canada: The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)
Canada: The Uniform Electronic Commerce Act (UECA)
EU: Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for data privacy and security
EU: The electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services (eIDAS) regulation
India: The Information Technology Act 2000 (IT Act of India)
International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) No. 3402, Type II audited
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 27001 certified
PDF Advanced Electronic Signatures (PAdES) is a set of restrictions and extensions to PDF and ISO 32000-1
UAE: Federal Law No. 1 of 2006 regarding Electronic Transactions and E-Commerce granting electronic signatures legal force and effect
USA: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) SOC 2 Type I audit
USA: California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
USA: Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) encryption standards
USA: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
USA: The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-Sign Act)
USA: FDA Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations; Electronic Records; Electronic Signatures
USA: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
USA: The Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA)
To learn more about Z-Vault and how ZorroSign can help you securely store contracts, data, and documents on blockchain, contact us today or start your 14-day Free Trial subscription!
In an earlier article, I briefly introduced sustainability in advancing technology—specifically urging innovators to be aware of the impact of their new technologies on the environment and human sustainability.
In advance of Earth Day 2022, I reiterate that while it is easy to laud the potential of new technologies, we must also be wary of their effects on the environment . . . specifically the depletion of natural resources which may disrupt ecological balance. This is not to say innovation must be stymied, but that the true price of innovation must be measured in more than purely economic terms.
Defining Sustainability for Business
My quick definition of sustainability—from the Brundtland Report, drafted by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in 1987—is simply “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.”
Bigger picture, the idea of sustainability is “often broken down into three pillars: economic, environmental, and social—also known informally as profits, planet, and people.” For me, new technologies tend to span all three: Driven by economic goals, but often extracting environmental and social costs.
For example, it has been a long-running criticism of bitcoin that the proof-of-work data mining required to produce coins consumes an astonishing amount of electricity. With many public blockchains used for cryptocurrencies, mining coins requires complicated mathematical processing on high-end graphic processing units (GPUs), consuming energy both for calculation processing and cooling those GPUs down under heavy load.
“Scientists from the University of Cambridge Judge Business School recently built an interactive analysis tool to calculate the real energy cost of bitcoin cryptocurrency,” explains Caroline Delbert in Popular Mechanics. “Using their energy use model, the researchers found that bitcoin mining uses more energy each year (130.00 terawatt-hours [TWh]) than the entire country of Argentina (125.03 TWh).”
Another example might emphasize social sustainability. “Social sustainability is about identifying and managing business impacts, both positive and negative, on people,” notes UN Global Compact.
Recall how Facebook’s social network technologies were taken to task by The Social Dilemma—a documentary highlighting the dangerous impact of social networking, which represents a sustainability challenge to human societies.
The film shows that while social networks’ cost is not environmental per se, social media’s “design nurtures an addiction, manipulates people’s views, emotions, and behavior, and spreads conspiracy theories and disinformation . . . [plus an] effect on mental health (including the mental health of adolescents and rising teen suicide rates).” Such social costs put existing social media in direct conflict with sustainable practices.
Balancing Innovation and Sustainability
So how can innovators build and create without jeopardizing the “ability of future generations to meet their needs”?
Such effort requires vision beyond immediate solutions and an eye for real-world consequences . . . even those completely unintended or unexpected in the deployment and adoption of new technology.
“The Industrial Revolution brought forth extraordinary gains in financial prosperity. Between 1870 and 1910, per capita income in the United States rose almost 40 percent, and the value of manufacturing output increased sevenfold. Yet rapid industrialization left in its wake darkened noontime skies, noisy and unsafe machinery, and severely compromised living conditions,” write David Austin and Molly K. Macauley in a classic article from Brookings. “Technology is a double-edged sword—one capable both of doing and undoing damage to environmental quality.”
“Technology has the ability to significantly impact the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals,” says Jeff Fromm in a Forbes article on sustainability and innovation. “As well as improve work/life balance, enable commerce and so much more.”
Here, environmental technologies have a chance to remedy the historical efforts of Industrial Revolution technologies that brought pollution and ecological disruption, as well as massively depleting natural resources.
“We are currently living in a period of rapid change, where technological developments are revolutionizing the way we live, at the same time as leading us further into the depths of catastrophe in the form of climate change and resource scarcity,” adds a great piece by Edinburgh Sensors. “While the impact of technology on the environment has been highly negative, the concept of environmental technology could save our planet from the harm that has been done.”
Even those technologies that simply avert environmental damage, without perhaps directly rebuilding or restoring natural resources, can have a tremendously positive effect on sustainability.
Starting with this economic pillar, we constructed a blockchain platform unlike bitcoin and the proof-of-work cryptocurrency models, instead leveraging Hyperledger Fabric as a next-generation enterprise blockchain architecture with lower electricity costs and a smaller carbon footprint. Hyperledger Fabric is a next-generation enterprise blockchain architecture “with even lower electricity costs and attendant carbon footprints,” writes Michael Barnard in a CleanTechnica report.
Hyperledger Fabric’s architecture is so completely different from the mining and broadly distributed model of bitcoin, that the enterprise blockchain can operate faster with far, far lower energy consumption rates. This combination of speed and energy-efficiency made Hyperledger Fabric the sustainable choice to launch ZorroSign’s digital platform.
For the environmental pillar, ZorroSign’s vision includes a commitment to saving trees and having a positive impact on the environment through sustainable practices. With our Save-a-Tree, Plant-a-Tree program, ZorroSign plants a tree on behalf of our customers every time they save 8,000 pages of copy paper! As one tree produces roughly 8,000 pages of copy paper, this amounts to a double incentive: Reducing the destruction of trees via reduced paper use and increasing the number of trees as reward for reducing paper use. Again, our efforts aspire to realize significant environmental benefits such as conserving water, reducing carbon emissions, improving air quality, and reducing deforestation.
At ZorroSign, we use blockchain to help individuals, businesses, and governments to achieve a paperless life. Here we embrace the social pillar: Understanding that switching to digital records is not only a smart business decision, but it is also good for the environment and society.
Every time someone uses ZorroSign to digitally sign agreements, contracts, and other documents—instead of printing, faxing, scanning, and couriering documents to collect signatures—we all save trees, save water, and reduce carbon emissions. By moving social costs from paper consumption, logistics, and storage to digital signatures, digital archiving, and digital chains-of-custody, we advance a technology that similarly advances sustainability.
I am eager to engage technology innovators in advancing their solutions while also advancing sustainability goals! Connect with me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/shamsh-hadi/
It is no secret that cybercrime has skyrocketed within the last few years, in fact, cybercrime in the U.S. jumped by 55%. This increased risk drives a greater need for privacy and security, especially within IT companies and departments responsible for digital data and cybersecurity.
ZorroSign can help your IT company or department combat the elevated security risks with our digital transaction platform, built on blockchain architecture, and calibrate your company and customers for success!
Blockchain Architecture For Elevated Security
ZorroSign is the only company that offers a multi-blockchain platform to secure, track, and manage your digital signatures, transactions, and documentation.
By using distributed ledger technologies—originally built on Hyperledger Fabric and recently expanded to include the Provenance Blockchain—ZorroSign provides superior privacy and security, offering peace of mind for your company’s and customers’ digital transactions, while preventing fraud and ensuring regulatory compliance.
How does this blockchain architecture contribute to ZorroSign being the best platform for IT companies?
Blockchain provides structural layers of protection from cybercrime, like ransomware, malware, or phishing attacks: First, by decentralizing the data set itself (preventing any one breach to access the entire data set); and second, by giving endpoints (or nodes) a quick path to recovery, even if they are themselves breached or their access ransomed.
Unlike centralized databases—which can be breached at unsecure endpoints (users and devices) or even at managed service providers (MSPs) hosting them—giving attackers complete control once they gain central access, blockchain technology distributes data physically across separate nodes. By decentralizing data storage, blockchain effectively prevents any one endpoint (even if compromised) from gaining control of the full data set.
This distributed nature so defeats any attack seeking to breach a system and holistically encrypts the data files stored inside: A single endpoint node might be breached, and its files held for ransom, but the larger data set cannot be controlled by any one endpoint (or central authority) and so attackers cannot capture the full data set for encryption, ransom, and shutting down the network.
ZorroSign is a strong addition to your security stack, and brings the cybersecurity capabilities of blockchain to your company’s and customers’ digital signatures and transactional documentation.
Z-Forensics Token
ZorroSign has further elevated our security through our patented fraud detection technology we call the Z-Forensics token.
This unique digital solution that can:
Prove that the individual who is performing the action to sign the document is who they claim to be (verification);
Apply a digital equivalent of a wet-ink signature to the document (legal intent); and,
Prove the authenticity of the printed copy or digital version of an electronically signed document, its content, attachments, and the signatures on it (authenticity).
Unlike any other digital signature solution, ZorroSign seals all your documents with our Z-Forensics token—capturing the complete audit trail and accompanying attachments and signature workflow. The token is encrypted and contains all the details about the transaction: Time stamps, user authentication, documents and attachments.
Your IT company or department gains peace of mind when you Z-Sign!
Cloud Configuration
On top of providing the security that your company and customers need, ZorroSign’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) model can be deployed in various cloud configurations, making it seamless to integrate into your existing platform.
Our standard deployment is on Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud computing network
In our private cloud configuration, all your data and the ZorroSign application run in a private and secure cloud network dedicated to your organization
In a hybrid cloud configuration, your data can be stored on either ZorroSign data centers or in the private cloud, while the ZorroSign platform and applications run on their standard public cloud configurations
On-premise deployments require your department to manage and maintain your own data centers, but gain the benefits of unlimited API calls and total control over identity access management (IAM), data privacy and security, and data integrity processes
Your IT company or department can scale and deliver data privacy and security aligned to your existing deployment architecture—as public, private, or hybrid as it may be!
To learn more about how ZorroSign helps IT companies and departments elevate your data privacy and security, please contact us or start your 14-day Free Trial today!
