Signaturdatabasen

Signaturdatabasen is a database designed to store information about digital signatures in order to support verification, auditing and long-term preservation of signed data. It serves as a repository for the metadata and components needed to establish the validity and integrity of signed documents, messages or records.

A typical signaturdatabasen contains elements such as the signature value, the data or reference to the signed object, the signing algorithm, a timestamp, and the signer’s credential data (for example a certificate or certificate chain). It may also store the signer's identity (as provided by the issuing authority), the signing policy, the status of the signature (valid, expired, revoked), and audit trails. To facilitate verification, the database often links to certificate revocation information and to authority records that vouch for the signer's identity.

Common uses include independent verification of signed content, support for archiving and legal admissibility, and enabling long-term validation of signatures as technology or certificates evolve. Signaturdatabasen is typically part of a larger e-signature or PKI infrastructure and is designed to interoperate with standards such as X.509, CMS/PKCS, XMLDSig, and sector-specific formats. In regulatory contexts, it may align with eIDAS or other national frameworks to ensure credibility and non-repudiation.

Important considerations include security and access control, data protection and privacy, retention policies, and measures for tamper-evident storage and immutable audit logging. Challenges include ensuring cross-border interoperability, maintaining certificate validity information, and supporting scalable, performant verification over time.