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Software Engineering vocabulary · APIs, Networking and Security

Digital signature

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

nounCommon term

In software engineering, digital signature means: A cryptographic value attached to a message, document or file that proves who created it and shows that it has not been changed since it was signed.

In Turkish: dijital imza, sayısal imza, elektronik imza

How it is used

Created with a private key and checked with the matching public key. Used for code signing, software updates, signed emails and legally recognised e-signatures. Security tools often trust signed files more, which is why stolen code-signing certificates are serious.

Example sentences

  1. The update was rejected because its digital signature did not match the vendor's key.

  2. All contracts in the portal are approved with a qualified digital signature.

Common collocations

  • verify a signature
  • code signing
  • signed binary
  • electronic signature
  • public-key cryptographyA type of cryptography that uses a pair of related keys: a public key that can be shared with anyone and a private key that its owner keeps secret.
  • digital certificateAn electronic document that links a public key to an identity, such as a website or a person, and is signed by a trusted certificate authority.
  • hashTo turn data such as a password into a fixed-length string with a one-way function, so that the original value cannot be read back from it.
  • encryption keyA secret value, usually a long string of bits, that an encryption algorithm uses to lock and unlock data. Without it, the encrypted data cannot be read.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: APIs, Networking and Security

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