Software, that we provide, executes on your computer when you need to TimeStamp a file. The software creates the fingerprint for your file, communicates with the DigiStamp computer, and stores your time stamp certificates. The Internet links you to the DigiStamp computer--the trusted third party. We provide the reliable clock; we return to you a sealed-electronic time stamp certificate that contains your file's fingerprint.

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A Fingerprint

When you time stamp a file, your computer creates a unique identifier, or fingerprint, for the file (a SHA-256 Hash). The fingerprint is a unique number calculated from the file's contents. Mathematicians call this a Hash function. If the file's contents were to change by even one character, a different number would be calculated. This accepted technique provides a design whereby it is computationally infeasible to find two different messages which produce the same number. Read more about the SHA hash standard here.

The Internet

By using the Internet, you electronically send the file's fingerprint to the DigiStamp computer. At DigiStamp, we put the file's fingerprint and the current time into an encrypted electronic envelope. The result is a digital time stamp certificate that is returned and stored in your computer software The process is safe, your file is never sent across the Internet; only the file's smaller fingerprint.

Your Certificates

We give you software to store and manage your timestamp certificates. Each certificate can be used later to verify that the contents of your file existed at a point-in-time. The process and format of a time stamp are defined by an international standard.

The process is safe, your file is never sent across the Internet. The process is reliable, the time stamp certificate proves that your file and its contents existed at a point-in-time.

  Information on the international standards and technology here.