Decision 2015/1506/EU pursuant to Regulation (EU) 910/2014 (also known as eIDAS) has defined a number of baseline profiles (e.g. PAdES, XAdES, etc.) to ensure that electronic signatures can be created and validated anywhere in Europe.

When a user performs a signing operation with Acrobat and tries to validate the signature at a later time using a signature validation software like DSS (Digital Signature Service) WebApp, either after the certificate’s expiration or revocation, the validation fails.

This happens because Acrobat’s default behavior is not conformant with the PAdES (PDF Advanced Electronic Signature) baseline profile. Its default settings do not include the mandatory “message-digest” attribute (and other signed attributes) which is enforced by the default DSS validation policy.

Acrobat offers a different signature option which does contain the “message-digest” attribute and passes validation by the DSS app successfully but needs the user to change the default settings of the application.

To do this, the user has to open Acrobat’s “Creation and Appearance Preferences” and choose CAdES-Equivalent as the Default Signing Format.

Finally, it is highly recommended that the checkbox “Include signature’s revocation status” is selected so the signature is LTV (Long Term Validation) enabled.

Sky is the limit

All of us involved in HARICA’s activities as a “Qualified Trust Service Provider (QTSP)” share a common philosophy that can be summed up in the words of Henry Ford: “If everyone moves forward in sync, then success comes naturally”.

A few years ago, we decided to expand our activities beyond the Academic and Research boundaries. Since then, our projects have exceeded our initial expectations and we feel deeply honored to be trusted by high-profile leading organizations, institutions, public and private, in Greece, in Europe and in the rest of the world.

The e-platform gov.gr of the Ministry of Digital Governance issues millions of digital documents, including Covid Vaccination Certificates, e-declarations and authorizations with HARICA’s e-Seal as well as the Central Electronic Document Management System (mindigital-shde.gr) issuing Remote Qualified Electronic Signatures for Public Administration to civil servants for signing legally binding documents as defined in the eIDAS regulation. The e-platform diavgeia.gov.gr uses HARICA certificates to formally announce governmental and administrative decisions and resolutions. The e-National Social Security Fund (e-Efka) uses HARICA’s e-Seal and Server Certificates. EYATH, (Thessaloniki Water Supply and Sewerage Company) trusted us for the Qualified eSignatures and the Email Certificates (S/MIME) of its employees.

The Council of State, Administrative Regions of Greece, the Ministry of Labour of Cyprus, Municipalities, Professional Chambers, the Supreme Attorneys Associations, Notary Associations as well as European Organizations such as EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), CEDEFOP and private companies such as BETA CAE, KLEEMANN and SPACE HELLAS are a few of HARICA’s high-profile Subscribers that have entrusted us for adding security to their digital services.

Big Social and News networks such as Facebook use HARICA’s wildcard certificates, providing encrypted communications and data security to billions of their users.

In the demanding field of electronic payments, we issue PSD2 digital certificates in accordance with the European Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) and Regulation 910/2014 (eIDAS), providing the highest level of security. This is why banking institutions such as ALPHA BANK, OPTIMA BANK and Third-party Payment Provider (TPP) companies such as CARDLINK, MIA PAGO Ltd, Perlas Finance, and Money Capp trust HARICA to secure their electronic transactions.

Our accomplishments do not make us complacent, they motivate us to continue our efforts with even more enthusiasm, but also with more knowledge and experience to improve and expand HARICA’s trusted services, because for us “only sky is the limit”.

Thank you!