How Can You Check Your Digital Document’s Authenticity?
The new normal, rise of remote and hybrid work models, and widespread penetration of the Internet have ushered in the digital era of documents. As more and more businesses and organizations are moving away from paper-based documents or digitizing their existing records, it’s necessary to check if the digital document you have is authentic.
Admittedly, a digital document is eco-friendly, costs less, and doesn’t require copious amounts of real estate to store unlike their paper contemporary, but they are vulnerable to targeted attacks. This means digital documents can be hacked, forged, and altered easily by someone who has the know-how and isn’t afraid to take risks.
In this scenario, it becomes difficult for you to decide if the document you have is original or a tampered version? Worse, what if the presented document digital is fake? Fortunately, there are several methods you can employ to check the authenticity of digital certificates, aka verifiable credentials.
What is a Digital Certificate?
Before we get into the methods you can use, it’s important to understand the meaning of a digital certificate. A digital certificate is similar to a regular digital document. The key difference is this document is hosted on the blockchain. It also follows the guidelines laid down in the Verifiable Credentials Data Model 1.0 by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
Based on its association with blockchain and the data model rules, the document is tamper-proof, can be verified by machines, and uses privacy-enhancing technologies, like decentralized identifiers (DIDs). This is all well and good, but how can a digital certificate prove authenticity?
4 Ways You Can Check the Authenticity of Your Digital Documents
Here are the four ways you can check the authenticity of your digital documents:
1. Verify the Document’s Digital Signature
Digital documents are signed to authorize the information presented and help build trust in the document. Think of them as regular signatures, but more secure and binding. They use popular digital signature protocols like the DSA (digital signature algorithm).
That being said, this type of signature isn’t exempt from fraud. So, how can you verify the document’s digital signature? Look for two key elements in a digital signature to verify its authenticity, including:
Pairing of private and public keys: Since the digital signature certificate is hosted on a blockchain network, it uses public and private keys for signature. Basically, the issuer uses their private key to securely sign a verifiable credential, whereas the public key is shared with the holder or public (in case a lot of people need to access the secured document). Unless the public key matches the private key, no one can decrypt the encrypted message.
Hash code: When the issuer cryptographically signs a document using their private key, a hash code (containing letters and numbers) is generated based on the document’s content. Ultimately, this code is encrypted using the signer’s private key for the development of a digital signature.
These two elements are your guide to verifying the authenticity of your document. The first step is to match the public key with the private key. If a public and private key don’t match, that’s a definite red flag.
The other option is to compare the hash code. A receiver generates a new hash code for the received document when they decode it. This generated hash code should match the hash code generated during signature. If the code isn’t exactly the same, it could be indicative of a tampered and fake document.
2. Check the document’s metadata
A document’s data can often be found in its metadata (the data about data). The metadata will offer details regarding the document’s content, origin, history, and more. The data is your map to explore the hidden paths of the document and learn all about it. You just need to know where to look and be patient while going through the data.
To illustrate, if you want to check the document’s authenticity, you might want to check how it was created and dive deep into the licenses and rights of the document. So, to discover all this information about the document, you’d want to check its administrative metadata. You might also be interested in checking the location of where the document was created. If yes, look for the document’s geospatial metadata.
But if you are more curious about the document’s creator, keywords, its title, and more, you’d get your answers by exploring the descriptive metadata. Similarly, structural metadata will cover details on the document’s structure, like pages, sequence order, chapters, and more.
Simply put, all the data about the document is already there, you just need to exercise patience and go through it with a fine-toothed comb so you don’t leave any interesting crumbs behind.
3. Authenticate the document’s hash value
A document’s hash value is akin to its digital fingerprint. Just like no two fingerprints are the same, no two hash values are the same (though there might be some exceptions). This is mostly because a hash value, a fixed character string of letters and numbers, is generated solely based on the document’s contents.
When secured on the blockchain, the hash code is submitted on the network, too. This makes the hash value immortal. Here’s the kicker: Whenever someone makes a change to the document (think a change as miniscule as a grammar Nazi removing or adding a comma), its hash value changes inexplicably.
This property makes the hash value a game-changer in the world of document security. For instance, when you send a document to a receiver, you just need to provide the original hash value to the receiver. The recipient will then recalculate the document’s hash to ensure it matches the issuer’s. If it doesn’t it’s a clear indicator of a tampered document.
Most blockchain-based document security platforms use the SHA-256 (secure hash algorithm-256) to secure and tamper-proof documents.
4. Examine the document’s digital trail
A digital trail is akin to a document’s history. Think of this exercise as checking a Google Doc’s history. So, basically examining when the document was created and by who. Further, when and how it was edited and who contributed to the edits. This adds another layer of security to the document.
However, this feature isn’t available for all digital documents. This is mostly provided by blockchain security solutions, like ProofEasy, that want to build a digital fortress around all documents and ensure you know exactly what’s happening with your document.
Keeping track of the digital trail will help you stay on track and check if the document has been altered or tampered. It’s important to note that an original document stored on the blockchain can never be altered because whenever you edit it (even if you’re the issuer), a new hash value is created for the document.
So, you’ll always be in the know when a document is altered or tampered with. An absence of a digital trail will also help you identify fake documents and keep your business secure against fraudsters.
Generate Authentic Documents on ProofEasy
ProofEasy is a blockchain and QR code solution that helps secure existing documents and securely issue new documents. The best part, though? You’ll always be in charge of your documents. All you have to do is go to the unified dashboard to keep track of all your documents and manage them.
The cherry on top is the budget-friendly pricing of the solution. But you don’t have to commit to anything until you’re 100% ready. So, why don’t you take ProofEasy for a spin? Simply sign up on the platform to start your free trial. No credit card details are required.
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