Digital Notary

A digital notary is a service or technology that verifies and authenticates digital documents, transactions, or signatures, ensuring their integrity, authenticity, and non-repudiation (meaning the signer cannot deny their involvement). Like a traditional notary public, a digital notary serves as a trusted third party, but it operates in the digital space using cryptographic techniques to verify that the documents have not been altered and that they were signed by the rightful individual.

Key Functions of a Digital Notary

1. Document Authentication: A digital notary certifies that a document has not been altered after it was signed. It ensures that the content remains unchanged from the time of signing.
2. Digital Signatures: It verifies the digital signature of a person or entity, confirming the identity of the signer and ensuring the signature is valid and linked to the document.
3. Time Stamping: Digital notaries often provide a timestamp, recording when a document was signed or verified, which can be crucial for legal purposes or compliance.
4. Proof of Integrity: Using cryptographic techniques, such as hashing, the digital notary can guarantee that any attempt to tamper with a document after notarization would be immediately detectable.
5. Non-Repudiation: By certifying the signer’s identity and linking their digital signature to the document, a digital notary provides legal proof that the signer cannot later deny signing the document.

How Digital Notarization Works

• Step 1: Digital Signature: A person signs a document digitally, typically using a cryptographic key pair (public and private keys). The private key is used to create the digital signature.
• Step 2: Verification by Digital Notary: The digital notary verifies the digital signature and ensures that it matches the signer’s public key. It checks that the document hasn’t been altered by generating a hash (a unique identifier) of the document and comparing it to the original.
• Step 3: Certification: The notary issues a certificate of authenticity, often embedding a timestamp, indicating the document’s verification. This certificate proves the document’s integrity and the identity of the signer.

Example: Blockchain and Digital Notaries

In the blockchain world (e.g., Cardano), a form of digital notarization occurs when transactions are verified and added to the blockchain. The blockchain acts as a decentralized notary, certifying the validity of each transaction through consensus mechanisms and cryptographic verification. Once a transaction is recorded in the blockchain, it is essentially “notarized,” and its integrity is guaranteed.

Digital Notary vs. Traditional Notary

• Traditional Notary: A person witnesses the signing of physical documents, verifies identities, and applies a physical seal to certify the document’s validity.
• Digital Notary: A software or cryptographic process verifies the digital signature, certifies the document’s integrity, and often provides a digital certificate or timestamp for future proof.

ELI5 (Explain Like I’m 5)

A digital notary is like a special stamp on a digital document that says, “This is real, it hasn’t been changed, and the person who signed it is exactly who they say they are!” Just like a real notary stamps papers to make them official, a digital notary uses smart computer codes to do the same thing for online documents.