New software to ensure tamper-free documents

Software which will provide a means of tracing the source of computer-generated information has been made available by researchers at the University’s School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS).

The research conducted by Professor Luc Moreau and his team has focused on the need to determine the provenance of digital objects, a concept whose importance is already well understood in areas such as art collection, where the provenance of an object helps determine its authenticity.

The work was done as part of the PASOA (Provenance Aware Service Oriented Architecture) and EU Provenance projects, which aim to bring the beneficial applications of their work into the computer industry.

According to Professor Moreau, before this research, there was no open, non-proprietary means of verifying the source of computer-generated information. This means that there was no cross-institutional way to audit the production of information or trace how a particular result was achieved.

Over the past 24 months, the researchers have investigated the role of provenance in computer systems and designed the protocols and data models to support its use. Their work has led to the development of an industrial-strength architecture and open specification, integrated with World Wide Web standards, and to the development of software which enables people to trace the provenance of their data. This open source software has now been released to industry.

‘We have designed a methodology which helps application designers to transform their applications so that they can find the provenance of their data,’ said Professor Moreau.

The EU Provenance project provides mechanisms and standard-based industry software which allows information generated and managed within a grid infrastructure to be trusted, through having a provable source. This information is documented in such a way that it can be inspected and validated by authorised users who can also ensure that it has not been tampered with during the process.

Professor Moreau said: 'This will be a very important service for organisations in the aerospace and organ transplant industries, in particular. It will also have applications in the food industry and could be very useful in tracing the source of email spam.'

Other partners in the Provenance team are: IBM United Kingdom Limited, Cardiff University (Welsh eScience center), Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft - und Raumfahrt s.V, Universitat Politechica de Catalunya and Computer and Automation Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

The researchers are keen to take these projects beyond e-Science into the world of business and are writing a proposal which will make this possible. The EU Provenance project was endorsed by industry last year when Professor Moreau showcased its initial results to IT analysts, and they plan to build on this endorsement to develop this market further.