Validating the orginality of a digital document occurs in two simple steps:

1. Certifying a File

Certifying means registering a digital fingerprint (hash) of a file on a public blockchain. This creates a timestamped proof that the document existed in a specific form at a specific moment. It confirms both existence and integrity.

Read more on how to Certify a file.

Verifying a File

Verifying is the process of checking whether a document has already been certified. The system calculates the current fingerprint of the file and compares it to the certified version stored on the blockchain. If the hashes match, the document is confirmed as original and unchanged.

Read more on how to verify a file.

Technical Process

1. The digital document receives a digital fingerprint (hash) based on it’s exact form.
2. This digital fingerprint is permantly saved (timestamped) on the blockchain
3. When in doubt of a file’s authenticity, Trustion Validate simply compares the digital fingerprint of the original file against the digital fingerprint of the secondary file. Any alterations automatically flag as inauthentic.

Hash

A hash is a unique digital fingerprint generated from a file or metadata. Even the smallest change to a file creates a completely different hash, making manipulation easy to detect.

Context

Context refers to the extra information added to a file before validation. This can include descriptions, authors, document versions, tags, or any other relevant metadata.

Blockchain

Blockchain technology is used to store timestamps in a public and immutable way. Once a timestamp is recorded, it cannot be changed or deleted. This makes the validation reliable and future-proof. Popular blockchains used in the system include Bitcoin and Polygon.