Is Notarize Safe?

For hundreds of years, people have trusted their most important legal documents to a notary, who verifies the identities of the signers and documents and records the transaction in a ledger. Having a neutral third party keep a paper trail of important moments — from wills and trusts to real estate sales — has long been considered the safest, most secure, and most reliable way to conduct these transactions. But with the rise of tech that enables everything from eSignatures to entirely remote notarization processes, verifying, documenting, and securing transactions has never been easier or safer.

Notarize is a safe and secure online notarization solution that enables you to get your most important documents notarized 24/7, from anywhere, anytime.

Is online notarization legal?

Yes! Online notarization is just another method of performing notarizations. A document notarized online is as legally valid as one notarized via traditional paper-based notarization.

How does Notarize protect you?

Remote online notarization provides all the protections of traditional, in-person notary services with added security benefits. Here are a few ways Notarize combines the human element with cutting-edge digital security to protect your information and your most important documents.

Multifactor authentication

At Notarize, we rely on both human verification and technology to make sure your transaction is verified and secure.

Notarize verifies your identity through a multi-step identity verification process during which you must complete a set of questions generated from your personal information and an automated analysis of your government-issued ID.

When you appear before the live online notary, they confirm your identity, witness your signature and assist you throughout the online notarization process.

This multifactor authentication process allows you to get documents notarized anytime, anywhere, in minutes, with an extra sense of security that is lacking with traditional, in-person notarizations.

Audio/video (A/V) recordings of each transaction

Relying on only a paper notary journal for record-keeping can put both you and the notary at risk. Online notarization improves record-keeping by requiring an A/V recording to be created and retained for every transaction.

In a traditional, paper-based process, if the signature is contested, the notary can revisit
a paper journal and may testify that he or she checked the signer’s ID, but that’s the extent of the available evidence.

With online notarization, if a transaction needs to be reviewed an A/V record can be made available. An A/V record will show what the signer looked and sounded like and the circumstances surrounding their signing of the document.

Document integrity

In today’s world, even the documents themselves present a forgery risk. With a traditional notarization performed with pen and paper, there is nothing to prevent a signer from altering a document or adding additional pages after the notarization.

On the Notarize platform, the entire lifecycle of a document is tracked in an audit trail. The audit trail contains a chronological list of all critical actions taken from when the document is uploaded to the platform to when the document is notarized. The audit trail is embedded in the document itself and can be viewed with all common PDF readers.

At the end of the process, the notary applies their seal and digitally signs the document using a digital certificate to make the document tamper-evident, ensuring its integrity and making any modifications obvious and provable.

Protecting your information

At Notarize, we know it's important to keep your data secure before, during, and after the notarization process. That's why our platform employs various measures to ensure the security and privacy of personal information including the encryption and protection of all data in transit and at rest using AES-256 bit encryption and tracking of all application access. The Notarize platform has also been subjected to various comprehensive information security audits and penetration testing. For more information on Notarize’s privacy practices, see Notarize’s Privacy Policy.

How we vet our notaries

Before using the Notarize platform, the Notarize Notary Onboarding team vets all notaries to determine that they meet state-specific standards and are authorized to perform RON.

Notaries are required to upload their digital certificate to perform notarizations, and digital certificates are only issued after a notary has successfully verified their identity.

Notaries are required to maintain errors and omissions insurance with sufficient coverage whenever they perform notarizations on the Notarize platform. Changes made to a notary’s profile after this review require a second review before the notary can resume performing notarizations.

Safe and secure online notarizations with Notarize

With the rise of data protection technology and digitization, you no longer have to choose between ease and security to fulfill your notarization needs. With Notarize, you get the confidence that comes with having a properly-commissioned notary facilitating your transactions plus the added benefits of digital authentication and data encryption.

Have more questions about Notarize or the online notarization process? Check out our FAQ's.