--- title: Digitally Sealed Certificates description: Learn how to secure your PDF certificates with cryptographic signatures. Virtualbadge.io enables digitally sealed certificates that guarantee document integrity, authenticity, and tamper resistance. --- [Skip to content](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/digitally-signed-certificates#main-content) - [English](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/digitally-signed-certificates) - [Deutsch](https://help.virtualbadge.io/de/article/digital-signierte-zertifikate) English Show submenu for translations [Contact Support](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/kb-tickets/new?hsLang=en) [![Virtualbadge.io White-2](https://help.virtualbadge.io/hs-fs/hubfs/logo/Virtualbadge.io%20White-2.png?width=300&height=40&name=Virtualbadge.io%20White-2.png)](https://www.virtualbadge.io/) Open main navigation Close main navigation - - [English](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/digitally-signed-certificates) - [Deutsch](https://help.virtualbadge.io/de/article/digital-signierte-zertifikate) English Show submenu for translations - [Contact Support](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/kb-tickets/new) - [Go to Admin Dashboard](https://admin.virtualbadge.io/) [Go to Admin Dashboard](https://admin.virtualbadge.io/) Hello! How can we help you? - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. 1. [Help Articles Virtualbadge.io](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article?hsLang=en) 2. [Features](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/features?hsLang=en) 3. [Security & Verification](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/features?hsLang=en#security-verification) # Digitally Sealed Certificates ## Learn how to protect your PDFs A certificate is only worth as much as people's trust in it. Digital sealing makes your PDF certificates cryptographically tamper-proof, so anyone can confirm a document is genuine and hasn't been changed since you issued it. When you enable the "Digitally Sealed Certificates" feature, we create a digital certificate that's unique to your organization. We store it securely and use it to seal every PDF certificate you issue. Here's how the seal works: we run the document through industry-standard cryptographic algorithms to create a digital fingerprint of its contents. That fingerprint is encrypted with the private key tied to your organization's digital certificate, and the resulting seal is embedded directly in the PDF. If even one character changes later, the seal no longer matches — and the tampering shows. ### How to get started: If you have been granted access to this feature by our customer support team, you can simply enable “**Digitally Sealed Certificates**” in the **Basic Details** section when creating a new certificate. ![](https://help.virtualbadge.io/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Jan-17-2024-04-59-00-0425-PM.png?width=670&height=358&name=image-png-Jan-17-2024-04-59-00-0425-PM.png) The workflow has been updated to generate PDFs when a recipient is added to the certificate. This allows for greater flexibility in determining the issue time, which can now be either fixed or dynamically set based on the recipient's addition. ![](https://help.virtualbadge.io/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Jan-17-2024-05-00-10-7146-PM.png?width=419&height=163&name=image-png-Jan-17-2024-05-00-10-7146-PM.png) After you add recipients, wait for the sealed certificates to finish generating before you send the email to the access page. ![](https://help.virtualbadge.io/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Jan-17-2024-05-00-26-5048-PM.png?width=670&height=230&name=image-png-Jan-17-2024-05-00-26-5048-PM.png) ![](https://help.virtualbadge.io/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Jan-17-2024-05-00-53-2444-PM.png?width=670&height=73&name=image-png-Jan-17-2024-05-00-53-2444-PM.png) ![](https://help.virtualbadge.io/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Jan-17-2024-05-01-09-1767-PM.png?width=670&height=94&name=image-png-Jan-17-2024-05-01-09-1767-PM.png)  When generation is done, you'll get an email with a link back to the recipient table, where you can download or send out the certificates. ![](https://help.virtualbadge.io/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Jan-17-2024-05-01-23-3896-PM.png?width=670&height=320&name=image-png-Jan-17-2024-05-01-23-3896-PM.png)  To verify a certificate, open the validation page through the QR code inside the PDF and upload the file. The page checks its integrity, validity, and authenticity. ![](https://help.virtualbadge.io/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Jan-17-2024-05-01-34-3341-PM.png?width=200&height=233&name=image-png-Jan-17-2024-05-01-34-3341-PM.png) ![](https://help.virtualbadge.io/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Jan-17-2024-05-01-56-0939-PM.png?width=600&height=318&name=image-png-Jan-17-2024-05-01-56-0939-PM.png) - [Onboarding & Setup](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/onboarding-setup?hsLang=en) - [Features](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/features?hsLang=en#main-content) - [Managing Credentials](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/features?hsLang=en#managing-credentials) - [Recipient Management](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/features?hsLang=en#recipient-management) - [Email Delivery & Customization](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/features?hsLang=en#email-delivery-customization) - [Sharing & Social Integrations](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/features?hsLang=en#sharing-social-integrations) - [Security & Verification](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/features?hsLang=en#security-verification) - [Insights & Reporting](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/features?hsLang=en#insights-reporting) - [Credential Design](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/credential-design?hsLang=en) - [Access & Share Credentials](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/access-share-credentials?hsLang=en) - [Trainer Module](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/trainer-module?hsLang=en#main-content) - [Trainer module settings](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/trainer-module?hsLang=en#trainer-module-settings) - [Creating a Training](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/trainer-module?hsLang=en#creating-a-training) - [Recipients in the Trainer Module](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/trainer-module?hsLang=en#recipients-in-the-trainer-module) - [Integrations & API](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/integrations-api?hsLang=en) - [Account & Billing](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/account-billing?hsLang=en#main-content) - [Billing](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/account-billing?hsLang=en#billing) - [Organisation Settings](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/account-billing?hsLang=en#organisation-settings) - [User Settings](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/account-billing?hsLang=en#user-settings) - [Element Library](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/account-billing?hsLang=en#element-library) - [Organisation Hub](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/organisation-hub?hsLang=en) - [FAQs](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/faqs?hsLang=en#main-content) - [Credential Management](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/faqs?hsLang=en#credential-management) - [Trainer Module](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/faqs?hsLang=en#trainer-module) - [Email & Delivery Issues](https://help.virtualbadge.io/article/faqs?hsLang=en#email-delivery-issues) [![Chill listening crop-3](https://help.virtualbadge.io/hs-fs/hubfs/Virtualbadge.io%20Dark%20(2).png?width=181&height=24&name=Virtualbadge.io%20Dark%20(2).png "Chill listening crop-3")](https://www.virtualbadge.io/) Virtualbadge.io Help Center Copyright © 2026, FutureNext GmbH