Legal Security for Transformations of Signed Documents: Fundamental Concepts

Abstract. Transformations of signed documents raise questions of technical and organisational nature which render the legal security of the transformed document doubtful. In particular, digital signatures of originals break depriving documents of probative force. This report elucidates legal problems, and introduces fundamental concepts of legally secure document transformations in a deliberately generic, applicationindependent way. A process analysis of transformations of signed documents is carried out to elicit common security requirements. This leads to the solution approach transformation seal, a cryptographically secured container used to ensure legal security for transformed documents by securing the content’s integrity, attesting a transformation’s correctnes, and attributing it to a responsible party. 1 Modern Legislation Governing Electronic Transformation and Archiving The principal regulation of legal issues related to the electronic transformation and archiving of docu...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: EUROPKI
• Authors: Andreas U. Schmidt, Zbynek Loebl
• Keywords: Documents, Electronic Transformation, EUROPKI 2005, Legal Security, Security Privacy