Signature semantics

[reynt0]

On Mon, 3 Nov 2008, Robert J. Hansen wrote:
  . . .
> Right, and this much doesn't bother me.  It's when people start ascribing 
> meaning to bad signatures, or the nonexistence of signatures, that I begin to 
> get frustrated.  A bad signature doesn't mean the message was tampered with 
> -- the alteration could have been in the signature and not the message 
> itself, just to name one possibility.
  . . .

In a single word, be "prudent".