Long-term Preservation of Validity of Electronically Signed Records

The authors explain the context in which electronic records are being preserved. They explain the concept of authentic electronic records and proceed with the analysis of the technologies supporting trust in electronic records. They start by explaining the Public Key Infrastructure as the requirement for electronic signatures, digital certificates, the concept of non-repudiation, trusted archive service, timestamps and trusted digital timestamping. Further, they analyse formats of electronic signatures – XMLDSig, XAdES, CAdES, PAdES – and their possible influence on the long-term preservation of validity of electronically signed records. The authors conclude that although strict requirements of certain types of electronic signatures can ensure authenticity, integrity and non-repudiation of preserved records, they will still require preservation action on the level of medium and files.