Electronic Signature - refers to any distinctive mark, characteristic, and/or sound in electronic form, representing the identity of a person and attached to or logically associated with the electronic data message or electronic document or any methodology or procedures employed or adopted by a person and executed or adopted by such person with the intention of authenticating or approving an electronic data message or electronic document (E-Commerce Act, Sec. 3(f)).

Digital Signature - An electronic signature consisting of a transformation of an electronic document or an electronic data message using an asymmetric or public cryptosystem such that a person having the initial untransformed electronic document and the signer's public key can accurately determine: whether the transformation was created using the private key that corresponds to the signer's public key; and whether the initial electronic document had been altered after the transformation was made. (Philippine Supreme Court Rules on Electronic Evidence, Sec. 1, (e)) and. (DTI-DOST Joint Department Administrative Order No2-2001, Sec. 3 (d))

In the simplest definition, an electronic signature is any distinctive mark that a person adopts as his or her signature. It could be an image of a handwritten signature, a digitally drawn signature, a typewritten name or initials, an emoji, or any other characters. An email signature is a good example of an electronic signature as well as clicking a button or ticking a box saying you agree to terms and conditions. This traditional electronic signature has no security and thus can easily be tampered with or be used in fraudulent activities.

A digital signature is a type of electronic signature that offers more security than a traditional electronic signature with the use of asymmetric or public-key cryptography. When you sign a document with a digital signature, the signature links a “fingerprint” of the document to your identity. Then that information is permanently embedded into the document or its hash, and the document will show if someone comes in and tries to tamper with it after you’ve signed it.

So a digital signature is a machine-generated code attached to the document or its hash to make sure that your electronic signature (visual) or the entire electronic document is not altered after signing it.

Philippine laws require a digital signature for documents that are required to be in writing or to be in original.