Cryptology ePrint Archive: Report 2012/499

Authenticity, Integrity and Proof of Existence for Long-Term Archiving: a Survey

Martín A. G. Vigil and Daniel Cabarcas and Alexander Wiesmaier and Johannes Buchmann

Abstract: Electronic archives are increasingly being used to store information that needs to be available for a long time such as land register information and medical records. In order for the data in such archives to remain useful, their integrity and authenticity must be protected over their entire life span. Also, in many cases it must be possible to prove that the data existed at a certain point in time. In this paper we survey solutions that provide long-term integrity, authenticity, and proof of existence of archived data. We analyze which trust assumptions they require and compare their efficiency. Based on our analysis, we discuss open problems and promising research directions.

Category / Keywords: Long term; Archiving; Authenticity; Integrity; Proof of Existence

Publication Info: This paper will be submitted to Designs, Codes and Cryptography, Springer.

Date: received 29 Aug 2012, last revised 24 Oct 2012

Contact author: vigil at cdc informatik tu-darmstadt de

Available formats: PDF | BibTeX Citation

Version: 20121024:071343 (All versions of this report)

Discussion forum: Show discussion | Start new discussion