A Survey of Electronic Signature Solutions in Mobile Devices

Abstract

The development of electronic signature in mobile devices is an essential issue for the advance and expansion of the mobile electronic commerce since it provides security and trust in the system. E-signatures provide security for the transactions with authenticity and integrity characteristics that make non-repudiation of the transactions possible. In recent years, different technologies and infrastructures have been developed with the aim of implementing mobile signature processes. Some are based on the SIM card. Others work over the middleware of the mobile device and cryptographic providers. Finally, there are already some frameworks which are independent of specific mobile device technologies and make mobile signatures available to application providers. Therefore, there is a great range of possibilities. In this paper we review the different solutions to date to provide electronic signature in mobile devices (SMS signature, SATK, WIM, USAT-i, SATSA, Mobile signature service, etc). We will comment on the most important goals of each solution and analyse the advantages and disadvantages. From this analysis we will obtain a global view of the current and future tendencies of mobile signature and thus help to provide mobile signature solutions.