My©Box digital fingerprint option, step-by-step.

In the case where you wish to deposit multiple files, place them in a zip file.

How to use our ultra-secure digital fingerprint solution?

This technique is called a hash print (note 2). This technology, legally recognized and widely used in ultra-secure computer exchanges (Banks, Army, Police), ensures the generation of a unique encrypted fingerprint for each deposit. This digital fingerprint is then digitally signed by our Notary and archived for thirty years. The fingerprint will constitute a proof of paternity in court.

Our solution uses state of the art US government approved SHA-512 algorithm (note 3).

Our fingerprint based solution allows you to preserve the confidentiality of your deposit. It is impossible to re-create the original file from the hash print and the original files are never transmitted to us.

What is a digital fingerprint?

A digital fingerprint is a string of binary digits generated by a mathematical algorithm that uniquely identifies a data file or files. It is not possible to reconstruct the files from the fingerprint. The fingerprint will always be the same i.e. when the algorithm is used again with exactly the same files, the fingerprint will be exactly the same. It is therefore easy to compare the calculated fingerprint with the original in order to determine if the files are identical. The probability of collision (two different files having the same fingerprint) of the SHA-512 algorithm we use is so unlikely that it is comparable to the number of atoms in the known universe.

The fingerprint can be saved into a text file and will look similar to this: 60D99172F973308A389ARA C58CEA51D04718E47E. Its size will not exceed a KB. You can thus calculate a fingerprint of a very large volume of files.

After uploading to our secure servers, your fingerprint is transmitted to the Notary. The Notary will timestamp it and store it for thirty years.

Step 1: Download the fingerprint generator software.

Download onto your computer our Windows OS SHA-512 fingerprint generator application (or use an equivalent generator such as sha512sum on Linux, or shasum on OSX) that you will use to generate the SHA-512 digital fingerprint.

It may also be necessary to download the .Net4 framework from Microsoft if your Windows installation does not already have it installed.

Download My©Box Fingerprint

PLEASE NOTE THAT DOWNLOADING THIS SOFTWARE IS SUBJECT TO ACCEPTANCE OF OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND MY©BOX FINGERPRINT LICENSE AGREEMENT. MAS LEGAL PROVIDES THE APPLICATION "AS IS", WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY. MAS LEGAL MAKES NO WARRANTIES THAT THE APPLICATION WILL PERFORM WITHOUT ERRORS OR WILL BE FREE OF DEFECTS. MAS LEGAL MAKES NO WARRANTIES AS TO THE QUALITY, SUITABILITY TO A SPECIAL PURPOSE, ACCURACY, AND THAT THE APPLICATION WILL CAUSE NO DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF, PERFORMANCE, OR INABILITY TO USE THIS MAS LEGAL PRODUCT, TO ANY HARDWARE, APPLICATION, NETWORK, SERVER OR ANY OTHER MATERIAL OF THE USER OR OF ANY THIRD PARTY, EVEN IF MAS LEGAL HAD BEEN PREVIOUSLY ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. YOU RECOGNIZE THAT COMMERCIAL USE OF THE APPLICATION IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.

Step 2: Generate a digital fingerprint of your file.

It is strongly recommended that you burn the file to two non-rewritable CD-R/DVD-R before generating your fingerprint in order to ensure you have unmodified copies of the file.

Click on the .exe file to launch My©Box Fingerprint. This program does not require any installation. Select the location of the file you want to deposit (preferably from one of the non-rewritable discs you created). After validation, the software will display the fingerprint string. This resulting text displayed is your digital fingerprint. Copy the fingerprint to the clipboard and save it in a text file application or a similar text editor.

Step 3: Deposit your digital footprint.

Choose one of our deposit packages and follow the instructions. Upload your text file containing the digital fingerprint and then proceed to the check-out. The digital fingerprint that you uploaded will automatically be sent to us with your purchase. Our check-out is securely encrypted with SSL.

Step 4: Preserving your evidence.

When your deposit is fully completed, you must ensure you keep the original file from which you generated the fingerprint. THIS FILE MUST NEVER BE MODIFIED IN ANY WAY OR ITS FINGERPRINT WILL CHANGE. A change of even a single character in the file or merely re-saving the file in a word processor will change the fingerprint and invalidate the evidence. It is thus strongly recommended that you burn the file to two non-rewritable CD-R/DVD-R and store them in separate locations.

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Resources for more information about hash digital fingerprints:

1. Wikipedia cryptographic hash functions

2. National Institute of Standards and Technology, US Gov

3. Craig Ball, Computer forensics teacher, University of Texas