Encryption Is Eating the World — Is Your Contract Signing Still Naked?

Key Takeaways: The Encryption Gap in Business Documents · What "Unencrypted Signing" Actually Means · How Encrypted Digital Signatures Work · Encryption as Competitive Advantage

July 2025 marked a tipping point for encryption. Proton launched a fully encrypted office suite. Apple expanded its Advanced Data Protection globally. Google added AI-powered security scanning with encryption to Google Drive. Samsung announced end-to-end encrypted health data sharing.

Encryption is no longer a feature. It's the baseline.

But in the middle of this encryption revolution, most businesses are still signing contracts the same way they did in 2005: emailing unencrypted PDFs back and forth, with signatures that anyone can copy, forge, or alter.

Your chat messages are encrypted. Your banking is encrypted. Your health data is encrypted. But the documents that bind your business to millions of dollars in commitments? Probably not.

The Encryption Gap in Business Documents

Consider the state of encryption across your daily tools:

This is absurd. Your weekend brunch plans are better protected than contracts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The gap exists because most businesses treat document signing as a "solved problem" — you email a PDF, someone signs it, done. But that workflow was designed before cybersecurity was a concern, before data privacy regulations, and before hackers figured out that business documents are the most valuable target in any organization.

What "Unencrypted Signing" Actually Means

When you email a PDF for signature without encryption, here's what you're actually doing:

In transit: The document passes through multiple email servers, each of which can read, copy, or store the content. Standard email uses TLS for transport encryption, but this only protects the connection between servers — not the document itself. Any compromised server along the route can access the full content.

At rest: The document sits in both parties' email inboxes, typically stored as plain text on email servers. If either party's email is compromised (and email breaches are the #1 attack vector), the contract is exposed.

The signature itself: A signature added in Adobe Reader or similar tools is essentially a digital image pasted onto the document. It's not cryptographically bound to the content. Anyone with basic PDF editing skills can:

• Copy the signature image to another document
• Remove the signature and modify the text beneath it
• Add fake signatures that look identical to real ones

No tamper detection: There's no mechanism to determine whether the document was modified after signing. A changed contract looks identical to the original.

This is what "naked" contract signing looks like. And it's still how the majority of businesses operate.

How Encrypted Digital Signatures Work

Properly encrypted digital signatures solve every vulnerability in the traditional workflow:

1. Document hashing When you sign through ZiaSign, the platform computes a SHA-256 cryptographic hash — a unique 256-bit fingerprint of the exact document content. Change one pixel, one character, one space, and the hash becomes completely different.

2. Asymmetric encryption The hash is encrypted using the signer's private key (which only they possess). This creates the digital signature — a mathematical proof that this specific person signed this specific document.

3. Public key verification Anyone can verify the signature using the signer's public key. If the verification succeeds, two things are mathematically proven:

• The document hasn't been modified since signing
• The signature was created by the holder of the private key

4. Certificate chain The signer's identity is verified through a chain of digital certificates, similar to how HTTPS websites prove their identity. This prevents identity spoofing.

5. Secure timestamping An independent timestamp authority provides a cryptographic proof of the exact signing time, preventing backdating.

6. Encrypted storage The signed document is stored with AES-256 encryption — the same standard used by governments for classified information.

The result: a document that is encrypted in transit, encrypted at rest, tamper-proof, identity-verified, and timestamped by an independent authority.

Encryption as Competitive Advantage

Beyond security, encryption is becoming a business differentiator:

Client trust: When you send a secure signing link instead of an email attachment, clients notice. It signals professionalism and respect for their data.

Regulatory compliance: GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, and industry-specific regulations increasingly require encryption for personal data processing. Signed contracts often contain personal data — names, addresses, financial details. Unencrypted handling is a compliance risk.

Insurance requirements: Cyber insurance providers are tightening requirements. Companies that can demonstrate encrypted document workflows often qualify for lower premiums.

Vendor qualification: Enterprise procurement teams increasingly ask about document security practices during vendor evaluation. "We email PDFs" is not the answer that wins the contract.

Partnership prerequisites: Major corporations are beginning to require encrypted document exchange as a condition of doing business. If your document workflow can't meet their security standards, you're disqualified before the conversation starts.

Encryption isn't just about preventing breaches. It's about positioning your business as one that takes commitments seriously — both the content of the commitment and the security of the process.

Making the Switch: From Naked to Encrypted in 5 Minutes

Upgrading from unencrypted PDF signing to fully encrypted digital signatures doesn't require an IT department or a six-month implementation plan:

1. Sign up for ZiaSign (free, 60 seconds) No credit card required. Your documents are encrypted from the moment you upload them.

2. Upload your document (30 seconds) Drag and drop any PDF, Word doc, or image. ZiaSign encrypts the document immediately upon upload.

3. Place signature fields (30 seconds) Click where signatures, dates, and initials are needed. Save as a template for future use.

4. Send a secure signing link (10 seconds) Recipients get a unique, secure link — not an email attachment. The document never travels as an unencrypted file.

5. Done (automatic) The signed document is stored with AES-256 encryption, cryptographic tamper seals, and a complete audit trail.

From this point forward, every document you send is encrypted in transit, encrypted at rest, and protected by the same cryptographic standards that secure government communications.

Your chat messages aren't sent as postcards. Your bank transactions aren't processed on paper. Your contracts shouldn't be naked either.

Encryption isn't a premium feature anymore. It's table stakes. And there's no excuse for not using it when it's free.

This article is part of ZiaSign's comprehensive resource library. Explore more guides at ziasign.com/blogs, or try our 119 free PDF tools.