DigiDoc (''Digital Document'') is a family of digital signature- and cryptographic computing file formats utilizing a public key infrastructure. It currently has three generations of sub formats, ''DDOC''- , a later binary based ''BDOC'' and currently used ''ASiC-E'' format that is supposed to replace the previous generation formats. DigiDoc was created and is developed and maintained by RIA (''Riigi Infosüsteemi Amet'', ''Information System Authority of Estonia''). The format is used to

legally Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

sign and optionally encrypt file(s) like text documents as part of electronic transaction. All operations are done using a national id card, a hardware token, that has a chip with digital

PKI PKI may refer to: * Partai Komunis Indonesia, the Communist Party of Indonesia * Peter Kiewit Institute The Peter Kiewit Institute is a facility in Omaha, Nebraska, United States which houses academic programs from the University of Nebraska� ...

certificates to verify a person's signature mathematically. Signed file is a

container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

holding actual signed, unmodified files and hence operation does not require any support from software that created those files. Format container and its signatures can be created using application like qDigiDoc or a web service with user's web browser with signing

extension Extension, extend or extended may refer to: Mathematics Logic or set theory * Axiom of extensionality * Extensible cardinal * Extension (model theory) * Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that satisfy the predicate * E ...

. When an application is used, container is typically exchanged between signing parties as an email attachment until everyone has signed it and have their own complete copy. Web services also utilize identity cards for session authentication using an authentication certificate which is also stored on the id-card.

Technical description

DigiDoc container contains actual files and metadata, including a hash that represents those files. When signing, software sends content hash using standardised

PKCS 11 In cryptography, PKCS #11 is one of the Public-Key Cryptography Standards, and also refers to the programming interface to create and manipulate cryptographic tokens (a token where the secret is a cryptographic key). Detail The PKCS #11 standa ...

interface to the user's id-card. After verifying the user's PIN, id-card signs the hash internally and returns a signature which is then stored into DigiDoc container. During the signing, the certificate validity of each signing party is checked, and a signed timestamp is retrieved, using an

OCSP The Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) is an Internet protocol used for obtaining the revocation status of an X.509 digital certificate. It is described in RFC 6960 and is on the Internet standards track. It was created as an alternative t ...

service. The signed timestamp makes it possible to prove later at what time a document was signed (as the timestamp is derived from the document hash) and that each signing certificate was not in certificate revocation list at the time of signing. Any signatures prior to the revocation are still valid (therefore, documents do not have to be resigned when the user receives new certificates).

ASiC-E

ASiC-E (''Associated Signature Containers'') and its extended variant is the latest DigiDoc container format. Used

file extension A filename extension, file name extension or file extension is a suffix to the name of a computer file (e.g., .txt, .docx, .md). The extension indicates a characteristic of the file contents or its intended use. A filename extension is typically d ...

is .asice.

BDOC

BDOC (''Binary Document''), of which the latest version is 2.1, is based on ETSI's ASiC signature container standards. It is official Estonian national standard ''EVS 821:2014''. Files use the .bdoc file extension.

DDOC

DDOC (''Digical document'') is the first generation DigiDoc format. Files use the .ddoc file extension.

Software

The most widely used application is the qDigiDoc graphical desktop software that runs on Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OSX and on various Linux distributions. qDigiDoc is

Open Source Software Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Open ...

that can be freely downloaded and installed. Applications also exist for Apple iPad tablet devices and Windows phones. Currently

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

n- and

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

government issued cards work with qDigiDoc 3.x and later versions.
installer.id.ee
qDigiDoc home page.
itunes.apple.com - DigiDoc for Apple iPad tablets

windowsphone.com - DigiDoc for Windows phone

Software libraries

Multiple programming languages are supported to create applications and services utilizing DigiDoc-format, including C++, C, Java, .NET,
libdigidocpp
c++ library
libdigidoc
C library
digidoc4j
Java library

References

{{Reflist

External links

id.ee - The World of DigiDoc

id.ee - BDOC2.1 – new Estonian national standard on digital signatures

id.ee - DigiDoc libraries

installer.id.ee
qDigiDoc home page. Cryptography standards Public-key cryptography Computer file formats Standards of Estonia