Researchers develop digital signatures for VoIP

 

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By Stewart Mitchell

Posted on 29 Jan 2010 at 11:53

Researchers in Germany have developed a digital signature system for internet telephony that they hope will mean conversations recorded on VoIP phones would be admissible in court.

The Fraunhofer Institute researchers hope to provide legally-binding archiving that means businesses could effectively agree contracts over the phone, and insurance companies and banks could formalise agreements with customers without the delays caused by paperwork.

“The problem with recording these conversations in general is that you can't guarantee that a call hasn't been manipulated,” lead researcher Rachid El Khayari told PC Pro. “If something goes to court and either party relies on a VoIP conversation that's been archived you have to be able to make the court believe that the conversation hasn't been tampered with – that nothing's been deleted or inserted."

Assuming the callers both agree to using the system, the software divides the telephone calls into intervals and signs the transmitted data packets with corresponding metadata, including a time stamp.

“This combines all the important information on a stored call into an indivisible chain,” says El Khayari. “Any changes to the calls will be noticed, no matter when the change is made.”

The researchers say the system, dubbed VoIPS, is suitable for all situations where companies, public authorities, banks or insurance companies want to store calls with a tamper-proof method in order to rule out later legal uncertainties.

El Khayari says the system started as an internal research project, but could soon be available to the wider world following a deal with commercial partner Artec IT Solutions.