XAdES

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XAdES (XML Advanced Electronic Signatures) is a set of extensions to XML-DSig recommendation making it suitable for advanced electronic signature.

1 Description 2 Profiles 3 See also 4 Links

[edit] Description

While XML-DSig is a general framework for digitally signing XML documents, XAdES specifies precise profiles of XML-DSig for use with qualified electronic signature in the meaning of European Union Directive 1999/93/EC. One important benefit from XAdES is that electronically signed documents can remain valid for long periods, even if underlying cryptographic algorithms are broken.

[edit] Profiles

XAdES defines six profiles (forms) differing in protection level offered. Each profile includes and extends the previous one:

XAdES, basic form just satisfying Directive legal requirements for advanced signature; XAdES-T (timestamp), adding timestamp field to protect against repudiation; XAdES-C (complete), adding references to verification data (certificates and revocation lists) to the signed documents to allow off-line verification and verification in future (but does not store the actual data); XAdES-X (extended), adding timestamps on the references introduced by XAdES-C to protect against possible compromise of certificates in chain in future; XAdES-X-L (extended long-term), adding actual certificates and revocation lists to the signed document to allow verification in future even if their original source is not available; XAdES-A (archival), adding possibility for periodical timestamping (e.g. each year) of the archived document to prevent compromise caused by weakening signature during long-time storage period.