[LINK] A Tool to Verify Digital Records

[Tom Worthington]

At 09:07 AM 28/01/2009, Kim Holburn wrote:
>... Changing a bit in a signed digital archive will render  both the 
>document unreadable and the signature invalid.  The digital  hash 
>while a good start is too sensitive in this case.  Changing
>document formats while maintaining hashes just does not seem possible. ...

If there is a problem with signed digital archives, someone had 
better tell the Victorian government as that is what they use for 
VERS <http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/vers/standard/version2.htm>. They 
wrap the original data file and any conversions of it, it in layers 
of signatures and security.

As far as I know the federal Australia Archives doesn't use this 
approach, mostly relying on external security of the software and 
operating system to protect the documents (some document formats have 
their own internal signatures).

Both approaches have their merits and problems. As I tell my 
e-archiving students, in the end it is not about the technical 
features of the system, but if you can convince a court that your 
procedures are sufficient to make the documents credible 
<http://www.tomw.net.au/technology/it/ecommerce/document_management.shtml#introduction>.



Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington at tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150
Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd            ABN: 17 088 714 309
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617                      http://www.tomw.net.au/
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Australian National University