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FAST 2002 Abstract
Enabling the Archival Storage of Signed Documents
Petros Maniatis and Mary Baker,
Computer Science Department, Stanford University
Abstract
Documents in digital formats are increasingly becoming a common form
of expression for anything from rants and opinions to transaction records
and contracts. Archiving such documents for the long term, particularly
when their only form is digital, can be very important. Sadly, the principal
digital expression of an author's intent, the digital signature, is not fit
for long-term archives of documents; signing keys can expire or become compromised,
rendering the documents they signed indistinguishable from illicit forgeries.
We propose KASTS, an extension of traditional archival storage systems that
enables the long-term storage of signed documents. KASTS combines time stamping
of signed documents with storage of past signature verification keys. We
argue that such an extended archival storage system is feasible and describe
one possible design for it.
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