Custom Stamp Can Be Copied by Recipients

The only way to protect your signature is to Secure the PDF and prevent copying of content.

Thank you very much for your prompt response. Is there a link or a faq you can point me to with step by step instructions.

Adobe also uses a special digital certificate to sign a PDF and optionally display a digital signature field. Since the digital signature using the Public Key encryption system. The signer has Private Key that he/she controls with a password and a Public Key that is distributed to other users that need to use the certificate to open the or verify the signature field and that the PDF has not been changed since it was signed. Even if the signature image is copied, without the necessary key files to create the signature certification the signature can be shown to be a copy.

How have you protected you old rubber facsimile signature stamps. The digital signatures provide a far more secure control system.

Securing documents with certificates

Thanks for your comment, George. Unfortunately, most banks and people who send electronic forms still want an old-fashioned signature and will not accept Digital Signatures. I am amazed that Adobe has videos up on their site showing how to create a signature stamp and do not have any info indicating it is not secure or how to make it secure.

The type of security Kelly suggested is standard password security. More information is in the Acrobat help doc.

You may want to first flatten the stamp so it becomes part of the regular page contents, as opposed to a stamp annotation. This will prevent it from easily being deleted, moved, etc. There are a number of ways to do this, but check out this nifty utility created by an AUC Expert here: http://www.uvsar.com/projects/acrobat/flattener/

Signatures embedded into a file as images are useless in terms of security, in my opinion.
Even with all the security in the world applied to the file, anyone can still take a screenshot and have a copy of your signature.
For real security, use digital signatures, as was mentioned earlier.

If you're new to digital IDs, I suggest watching James Lockman's contribution to this month's AUCTV show - jump to 08:45.