In an office setting, an employee finalizes a contract with a remote vendor via email. To ensure that both parties can prove the validity of the agreement and cannot deny their involvement at a later time, what should be used alongside the digital document to serve as a proof of consent and agreement?
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Digital signature
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Handwritten signature on a printed version of the email attachment
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Simple acknowledgment by replying 'Agreed' to the email
A digital signature is a mathematical scheme for demonstrating the authenticity of a digital message or document. A valid digital signature gives a recipient reason to believe that the message was created by a known sender and that the sender cannot deny having sent the message (non-repudiation). It is the correct answer because it binds each signature to the document with a unique fingerprint (hash), which, if altered, invalidates the signature. A handwritten signature on a digital contract is not verifiable and is unsuitable for digital transactions. Using a company seal doesn't ensure non-repudiation, as it can't uniquely link the document to its sender. Simple acknowledgment by email is not secure and does not provide non-repudiation, because email messages can be easily spoofed.
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