Digital signatures are the digital equivalent of handwritten signatures or stamped seals, but offering far more inherent security. They are used to authenticate the identity of the sender of a message and ensure that the original content of the message has not been altered.

How Digital Signatures Work

1. Key Generation: A public-private key pair is created using cryptographic algorithms.
2. Signing: The sender creates a hash of the message and encrypts it with their private key.
3. Verification: The recipient decrypts the signature with the sender's public key and compares it to a newly generated hash of the received message.

Properties of Digital Signatures

• Authentication: Verifies the identity of the signer
• Non-repudiation: The signer cannot deny having signed the message
• Integrity: Any change to the message after signing invalidates the signature