An electronic signature method uses a signature generation unit with a memory that is spatially separated from a data processing device. At least one biometric trait of a person who will electronically sign an electronic dataset is captured, and an electronic biometric dataset is generated based thereon. The biometric dataset is encrypted using a randomly generated value. Subsequently, the encrypted biometric dataset is transmitted to the data processing device, a first checksum is generated in the data processing device for the encrypted biometric dataset and the electronic dataset, and the first checksum is transmitted from the data processing device to the signature generation unit. The random value is encrypted using the first checksum, and the encryption result is further encrypted using the stored key. The result of this is then transmitted to the data processing device.