Document verification
Canadian and US driver's licences, passports, permanent-resident cards and provincial photo ID, read front and back and checksummed against the barcode and the MRZ.
E-signature
E-signature identity verification, before anyone signs
A signature is only as good as the identity behind it. ShieldID's signer identity verification API confirms a real person, holding their own government ID, is the one completing your document — with the check entered on the record alongside the signature itself.
The problem
"They clicked the link" is not "they signed it"
Most e-signature platforms confirm someone opened an email and typed a name. That is authentication of an inbox, not identification of a person.
An email link proves an inbox, not a person
Anyone who can open the email — a shared inbox, a forwarded message, a compromised account — can click through and type a name into a signature box.
High-value documents need more than a checkbox
A lease, a loan agreement, a settlement or a power of attorney carries real consequences. "I agree" typed by an unverified party is a weak foundation for something that matters that much.
When it's disputed later, there's often nothing to show
If a signer later claims someone else signed on their behalf, most e-signature audit trails show an IP address and a timestamp — not a government ID checked against a live face.
A worked example
A commercial lease, ready for two signatures
Fictional, to show the shape of the flow. No real tenant, landlord or lease is involved.
The document is sent
A property manager sends a commercial lease for signature through their e-signature platform. Before the signing screen appears, the platform redirects the tenant to a ShieldID verification session tied to that specific document.Capture, on the signer's phone
The tenant photographs the front and back of their driver's licence and completes a short guided liveness challenge. The barcode and the printed fields are cross-checked; the live face is matched to the document portrait.Fraud signals run on every session
Anti-spoof, deepfake, mask and document tamper checks run automatically — not a setting the e-signature platform has to remember to enable for a higher-value document.Back to the document, verified
ShieldID returns the tenant to the platform's return URL with the result attached, and delivers the same result by signed webhook. Only now does the platform let the signing step proceed.Two records, side by side
The e-signature platform's own audit trail shows the signature event. ShieldID's Activity Ledger shows the identity check that preceded it — who was verified, what the engine reported, and when — an append-only record enforced by the database.
What matters most before a signature
Confirm the person, not just the inbox
Every check below runs on every verification, whatever the document is.
Face match and liveness
A guided liveness challenge, tracked on 478 facial landmarks, proves a real person is present — not a photo, a recording or a mask — and the live face is matched to the document portrait.
Fraud signals
Anti-spoof, deepfake, mask and document tamper checks run on every session and are reported individually, so a dispute over a signature has more than a pass/fail behind it.
Activity Ledger
The identity check behind a signature is entered in an append-only record you can point to alongside your e-signature platform's own audit trail.
Signed webhooks and a return URL
A result comes back to your platform by both a signed callback and a redirect, so the signing step only proceeds once the identity check has actually completed.
Watchlist screening
Sanctions and watchlist screening is available as an account-level add-on for signing workflows — legal, real estate, financial — that need it.
Add-on
For disputes and audits
When a signature is challenged, the identity check is on the record too
A signer later disputes a document. A litigator asks for evidence of who actually signed. A regulator reviews your client-identification file. The identity check behind the signature is where that conversation starts.
Append-only, enforced by the database
Entries can be added. They cannot be edited or deleted — not by you, not by ShieldID. That is a property of the database itself.
The identity check, separate from the signature event
ShieldID's ledger records the verification that ran before signing — who was checked, what the engine reported, when — as its own entry, distinct from your e-signature platform's own record of the click.
Searchable by actor, action, outcome and date
Pull exactly the entries a dispute or a file review needs instead of reconstructing a timeline from two different systems by hand.
Today the ledger records verified and failed verification outcomes, sign-ins and API-key activity, and audit exports. Per-view and per-download events for ID images, a dedicated decision event, purge receipts and a self-service CSV export for your team are coming soon.
Integration options
One verification step, ahead of signing
Hosted verification page
Redirect the signer to a ShieldID page with your branding immediately before the signing screen; they return to your platform once the check is complete.
Signed webhooks
An HMAC-SHA256-signed callback confirms the result server-side, retried automatically, so your platform never gates a signature on a redirect alone.
One REST API
Create a session tied to a specific document or envelope, read the status, fetch the full result. A handful of endpoints cover the whole flow.
Sandbox, never billed
Test the verification-before-signing flow against sandbox sessions, with the same fields and events production returns, before it touches a real document.
Already in production
This is what runs behind Trust Ledger
ShieldID's signer identity verification is what powers Trust Ledger, Crown Stack Systems' own e-signature product — the same document checks, face match, liveness and Activity Ledger described on this page, running on real signing flows today, not just as a plan.
Privacy notes
A signer's ID, handled with the same care as the document they're signing
A document worth signing is often worth protecting the identity behind it just as carefully.
- Hosted on our own servers
- ID images, extracted fields and results are processed and stored on infrastructure we control, not a public cloud provider.
- Purged on a short timer
- ID images are purged automatically, seven days by default, configurable; the verification record outlives the images.
- Encrypted
- Date of birth is stored encrypted and ID images are encrypted at rest.
- Designed to align with PIPEDA
- Minimum collection, a short retention window and a searchable access record — the controls that make "we verified the signer" more than a line in your terms.
Vs. the manual way
What an ID check adds ahead of a click-to-sign
A category comparison, not a claim about any specific vendor.
| Capability | ShieldID | Typical enterprise IDV | Manual checks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Confirms a real person, not just an inbox | Yes | Usually | No |
| Liveness challenge, not a static photo or a checkbox | Yes | Usually | No |
| Government ID read and cross-checked | Yes | Usually | No |
| Identity check entered in a searchable record | Yes | Not offered to the customer | IP address and timestamp only |
| Ties to a specific document or envelope | Yes | Usually | n/a |
| Sandbox that is never billed | Yes | Sometimes | n/a |
Objections
What a platform team asks before adding this step
"Doesn't our e-signature tool already verify identity?"
Most rely on an email link, an SMS code or a typed name — proof someone controls an inbox or a phone number, not proof of who they are. ShieldID adds an actual government-ID and live-face check.
"Won't an extra step slow down signing?"
It's one hosted step, on the signer's own phone, placed once before the signing screen. How often it repeats for a returning signer is a policy your platform sets, not something ShieldID forces on every document.
"Is ID-backed signing legally required?"
That depends on your jurisdiction, document type and counsel's advice — we don't give legal advice. What ShieldID adds is stronger evidence of who was on the other end of the signature, which is useful whether or not it's mandated.
"Can we use this for only our higher-value documents?"
Yes — call ShieldID for the documents that need it and skip it for the ones that don't. It's a step you add to a specific signing flow, not an all-or-nothing switch on your whole platform.
What you see
Know who signed, and show how you know.
Signers prove who they are before they sign. The result sits with the envelope: every field read from the ID and every check on its own.
Questions
Straight answers for e-signature platforms.
Get started
Add an identity check ahead of your next signature
Create a sandbox session, run a verification on your own phone, and see the record it writes before a single real signer touches it.
Sandbox sessions are never billed.