UK technology company is assisting police with their enquiries UK technology company is assisting police with their enquiries
Law-enforcement agencies have been concerned that there is no effective way of proving the integrity of evidential material recorded by the latest digital devices.
After three years of research and development, Signum Technologies' new VeriData data validation technology will address this issue by guaranteeing the integrity of digital data at the point of acquisition and providing a secure master reference file. Importantly, this is done without compromising the quality of the underlying information.
VeriData has been designed for use where visual or audio records are acquired as digital data. If a data file which has been validated by the VeriData process is subsequently modified in any way, VeriData detector software will detect and highlight where the changes have occurred.
At the heart of VeriData is highly specialised and sophisticated software based technology, which uses complex mathematically derived algorithms and which can be inexpensively encoded into computer chips that control the operation of digital still and video cameras and audio recorders.
Typical imaging applications for VeriData include: scene-of-crime photography, accident investigation, traffic management and enforcement systems, surveillance, medical imaging and critical component testing.
According to Alan Bartlett, Signum's marketing manager, there's already considerable interest in the technology from law-enforcement and government agencies in both North America and Europe who are seeking ways to overcome these issues.
He commented: "VeriData can encode any digital audio, video or still picture file. The code is added when the file is 'created' or 'received' by any computer system running the VeriData software. There is a provision for batch insertion of the code if a client is dealing with many files.
"Ultimately, we envisage that the software will be built into all professional digital recording devices."