In today's digital age, sweeping across government, finance, manufacturing, and service industries, electronic private seals are rapidly replacing physical seals, which have been used for centuries, becoming a core trust tool for businesses to sign contracts, issue certificates, and process approvals. Especially those electronic private seals based on digital certificates, whose security and anti-counterfeiting capabilities far surpass those of traditional physical seals. This is not merely a formal "online" migration, but a revolution in trust mechanisms, shifting from "relying on the seal" to "relying on cryptography."1. Inherent Defects of Physical Seals: Easy to Counterfeit, Difficult to Control, and Lack of TraceabilityTraditional physical seals are essentially hard carriers with specific images and text. Their anti-counterfeiting relies mainly on ink color, font details, or anti-counterfeiting codes, but these features are easily copied by high-definition scanning, 3D printing, or laser engraving. In reality, cases of forged seals, counterfeit official seals, and misuse of seals are commonplace, exposing three fatal weaknesses:Easy to forge: A high-quality counterfeit seal costs less than 100 yuan and is difficult to distinguish with the naked eye;Uncontrolled use: Once a seal is lent out or improperly stored, its use—time, place, and purpose—is completely uncontrollable;No evidence of action: Stamping completes the transaction, making it impossible to prove who, when, or on what basis the action was taken.These shortcomings make physical seals increasingly a security vulnerability in digital collaborative environments.2. Digital Certificates: Building a Dual Trust Anchor of "Identity + Signature"The core of electronic private seals based on digital certificates is the deep binding of the seal image with a nationally recognized digital certificate. Digital certificates employ asymmetric encryption technology and contain a unique public key, holder identity information, and a CA digital signature, possessing the following characteristics:Strong Identity Authentication: Certificate applications require multiple verifications, including business licenses, legal representative identities, UKeys, or biometrics, ensuring "seal owner identity."Unique and Non-Exportable Private Key: The private key used to generate the electronic signature is stored on secure media, never exposed, and prevents copying.When a user signs a document using the electronic private seal, the system not only affixes a visual seal image but also generates a digital signature based on the private key in the background. This signature is bound to the hash value of the document content—any tampering with the document will cause signature verification to fail.
3. End-to-End Traceability: Every "stamp" is traceable.The electronic private seal system inherently possesses end-to-end traceability capabilities. Every use of the seal is automatically recorded:Signer's identity (based on certificate); Signing time (accurate to milliseconds, provided by the Trusted Timestamp Service (TSA); Original hash value of the document; Approval process log (e.g., approval by department head, legal counsel, and CEO); IP address and device information. This data forms an undeniable audit trail, which, after being stored on a blockchain or judicial evidence platform, can serve as court-recognized electronic evidence. In contrast, once a physical seal is affixed, its legality cannot be proven unless the entire process is recorded.4. Fine-grained Access Control: From "Seal with Person" to "On-Demand Authorization"Traditional seal management relies on "dedicated personnel for safekeeping and registration of borrowing," which is inefficient and prone to vulnerabilities. The electronic private seal supports fine-grained access control policies:Assign seal permissions by role (e.g., financial seals are restricted to financial personnel); Set up single/batch seal approval workflows; Limit the type of document to be sealed (e.g., only allow signing of purchase contract templates); Support temporary authorization and automatic retrieval. Enterprises can also set "seal watermarks" or "dynamic verification codes" to further prevent screenshot theft. This "authority equals control" model fundamentally eliminates the risk of unauthorized stamping.5. Tamper-proof and Integrity Guarantee: Once signed, documents cannot be reversed.Documents signed with an electronic private seal are typically in PDF or OFD format and embed a digital signature field that conforms to national standards. Any modification to the document content, page numbers, or attachments will break the signature structure, displaying an "invalid signature" warning upon opening. Some advanced systems also incorporate blockchain notarization, writing the document's hash value into a consortium blockchain for cross-institutional trusted verification. Physically stamped documents, even if pages are replaced or clauses are added, are often difficult to detect, resulting in extremely high costs for rights protection.An electronic private seal is not simply a digitalization of a physical seal; it is a new generation of digital trust tool based on cryptography, guaranteed by law, and carried by a system. It completely solves the security vulnerabilities of traditional seals with "unforgeable identity, non-repudiable behavior, unalterable content, and unsurpassable permissions." In the digital economy era, choosing an electronic private seal is not only a choice to improve efficiency but also a crucial step in building corporate compliance defenses and moving towards trusted digital collaboration.
