Overview of DVCS
A Data Validation and Certification Server (DVCS) is a Trusted Third Party ( TTP) providing data validation services, asserting correctness of digitally signed documents, validity of public key certificates, and possession or existence of data.
As a result of the validation, a DVCS generates a Data Validation Certificate (DVC). The data validation certificate can be used for constructing evidence of non-repudiation relating to the validity and correctness of an entity's claim to possess data, the validity and revocation status of an entity's public key certificate and the validity and correctness of a digitally signed document.
Services provided by a DVCS do not replace the usage of CRLs and OCSP for public key certificate revocation checking in large open environments, due to concerns about the scalability of the protocol.
It should be rather used to support non-repudiation or to supplement more traditional services concerning paperless document environments. The presence of a data validation certificate supports non-repudiation by providing evidence that a digitally signed document or public key certificate was valid at the time indicated in the DVC.
A DVC validating a public key certificate can for example be used even after the public key certificate expires and its revocation information is no longer or not easily available. Determining the validity of a DVC is assumed to be a simpler task, for example, if the population of DVCS is significantly smaller than the population of public key certificate owners.
An important feature of the protocol is that DVCs can be validated by using the same protocol (not necessarily using the same service), and the validity of a signed document, in particular a DVC, can also be determined by means other than by verifying its signature(s), e.g. by comparing against an archive.
The production of a data validation certificate in response to a signed request for validation of a signed document or public key certificate also provides evidence that due diligence was performed by the requester in validating a digital signature or public key certificate.
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