Skip to main content
ShieldID

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.

Start free in sandboxBook a demo

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.

  1. 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.

  2. Capture, on the signer's phone

    The tenant photographs the front and back of their driver's license 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

Document verification

US driver's licenses and state IDs, read front and back with the barcode checksummed against the printed page, plus passports read from the machine-readable zone. Coverage spans all 50 states, the District of Columbia, five US territories and US State Department diplomatic IDs, 57 issuing jurisdictions in total.

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 against major lists, including OFAC, 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.

See the full Activity Ledger

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 in Canada
ID images, extracted fields and results are processed and stored on ShieldID's own servers in Canada, not a public cloud provider and not a US data center.
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.
Built with privacy by default
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.

ShieldID compared with a typical enterprise identity-verification platform and with an e-signature flow that relies on an email link alone.
CapabilityShieldIDTypical enterprise IDVManual checks
Confirms a real person, not just an inboxYesUsuallyNo
Liveness challenge, not a static photo or a checkboxYesUsuallyNo
Government ID read and cross-checkedYesUsuallyNo
Identity check entered in a searchable recordYesNot offered to the customerIP address and timestamp only
Ties to a specific document or envelopeYesUsuallyn/a
Sandbox that is never billedYesSometimesn/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.

Illustration with sample data: an applicant's phone in the hosted verification flow, and the ShieldID portal showing the result for Marcus Whitfield, New York driver's license, Signer, lease renewal, with the fields read from the ID and twelve checks.

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.

Start free in sandboxBook a demo

Sandbox sessions are never billed.