Security · Autessa Document Signing
Security, permissions and audit for e-signatures
Autessa Document Signing protects contracts at every step: signing links stored only as hashes, envelopes private to their owner until shared, documents frozen once sent, PAdES digital signatures inside every sealed PDF, and a cryptographically chained audit trail that shows Chain verified when it is intact.
Data handling
How does Autessa handle documents and signatures?
| Area | How it works |
|---|---|
| Signing links | Single-use, high-entropy tokens that exist only in the email. Autessa stores a hash, never the token. |
| Link expiry | Every link carries an expiry set at send. Expired links offer a one-click request for a fresh one to the same address. |
| Voiding | Every outstanding link stops working the moment an envelope is voided or marked as executed. |
| Document integrity | The document is frozen once sent. SHA-256 hashes of the original, prefilled and sealed PDFs are kept on the envelope. |
| Digital signatures | PAdES-B-T per signer (CMS SignedData plus an RFC 3161 trusted timestamp), keyed to an ephemeral per-signer certificate. |
| Download links | Short-lived presigned URLs, minted fresh each time a signer opens the hosted download page. |
| Recipient isolation | Signers see only their own fields as editable; viewers get read-only links; neither sees your workspace. |
| Record retention | Completed envelopes can never be deleted; sent envelopes cannot be deleted while links are live. |
| No background AI | Document Signing provisions no AI tools, no agents and no scheduled jobs. Sealing happens the moment the last signer submits, and reminders are sent only when someone asks. |
Permissions
Who can do what with an envelope?
Document Signing appears only for people whose role allows it. Within it, every envelope, template and folder is private to its owner until shared at one of four levels. A colleague gets the highest level from any grant that covers them.
| Level | Allows |
|---|---|
| READ | View, audit trail, in-progress and sealed downloads |
| WRITE | Also rename |
| PUBLISH | Also direct links, reminders, resend, void, mark as executed |
| ADMIN | Also share, unshare, transfer ownership, delete |
Audit
What does the audit trail record?
Every event on an envelope: created, prefill set, fields set, recipients set, sent, viewed, signed, rejected, sealed, sealed by owner, downloaded, voided, expired, link rotated, reminder sent, completed, viewer copy sent, shared, unshared, sharing level changed, ownership transferred and delegated. Each row records the actor’s email, IP address, browser and time, and rows are cryptographically chained so any change breaks the chain.
Tamper-evident audit trail →
Every envelope carries a cryptographically chained audit trail in which each event hashes into the next, so removing or altering an entry breaks the chain and shows Chain compromised.
PAdES digital signatures →
Each signature is embedded in the PDF as a PAdES-B-T digital signature with an RFC 3161 trusted timestamp, keyed to an ephemeral per-signer certificate.
Consent and identity attestation →
Before signing, each signer agrees to electronic records and signatures, and before submitting they confirm they are the named person and authorized to sign.
Autessa’s security program
Reports, policies and Autessa’s compliance posture are published in the Trust Center.
FAQ
Security questions
How are signing links protected?
Each link carries a single-use, high-entropy token that exists only in the recipient’s email. Autessa stores a hash of it and never the token, so nobody, including Autessa staff, can rebuild a signing link from the database.
Who can see my envelopes?
Only you, until you share them. Recipients interact through their own signing and viewing links and never see your workspace.
Can a signed contract be deleted?
No. Only drafts and voided envelopes can be deleted. A sent envelope cannot be deleted because that would break live links, and a completed one never can be.
Where are Autessa’s certifications?
See the Autessa Trust Center at trust.autessa.com for Autessa’s security program and reports.
100% customizable, code and all
Make Autessa Document Signing fully your own.
Use it out of the box, then change anything. Ask Autobot, Autessa’s AI builder, for a new field, screen, report, workflow or agent and it builds it into your copy of the app. Or open the code and edit it yourself. Nothing is locked: the app, its data and its code are yours.
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