Systems and Methods for Roll-Up of Asset Digital Signatures

• US 20070130218A1
• Filed: 10/31/2006
• Published: 06/07/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Iron Mountain Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Iron Mountain Incorporated
• Inventors: Blumenau, Steven
• Application Number:
  US11/555,242
• Publication Number:
  US 20070130218A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/125 characterised by the use of retention policies retention policies for HSM systems G06F16/185
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/16 Program or content traceability, e.g. by watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2135 Metering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2137 Time limited access, e.g. to a computer or data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2143 Clearing memory, e.g. to prevent the data from being stolen
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing digital assets in a distributed computing environment are described. Meta-data for the digital assets is stored separately from the digital assets. Meta-data for some of the digital assets is copied and stored at a central location. Meta-data for the digital assets is generated by clients of the system. A method for enabling a verifiable audit record relating to a plurality of received audit records includes: receiving a plurality of audit records, each audit record corresponding to a digital asset, identifying an action performed on the digital asset, and having an associated digital signature; creating, after receipt of one of the plurality of audit of records, a hash value corresponding to a subset of the received audit records, the subset comprising at least two records and including the received audit record; and associating, by the server, the hash value with the subset of records.

Claims

1. A method for enabling a verifiable audit record relating to a plurality of information transactions in a computer network, the method comprising:

(a) receiving, at a server during a time interval, a plurality of audit records, each audit record corresponding to a digital asset, identifying an action performed on the digital asset, and having an associated digital signature;

(b) creating, after receipt by the server of one of the plurality of audit of records, a hash value corresponding to a subset of the received audit records, the subset comprising at least two records and including the received audit record; and

(c) associating, by the server, the hash value with the subset of records.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein step (b) comprises creating, after a receipt by the audit server of one of the plurality of records, a hash value, such that the hash value corresponds to a subset of the plurality of records, and wherein the subset comprises at least two records and comprises all records received from the beginning of the time interval to the receipt of the one of the plurality of records.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein step (b) comprises creating, after each receipt by the audit server of one of the plurality of records, a hash value, such that the hash value corresponds to a subset of the plurality of records, and wherein the subset comprises at least two records and comprises all records received from the beginning of the time interval to the receipt of the one of the plurality of records.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the time interval is selected from the group of:

a half-hour, an hour, six hours, a day, and a week.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of transmitting the hash value, after the time interval has elapsed, by the server to a trusted entity.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more of the plurality of audit records comprises an asset identification tag.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein one of more of the plurality of audit records comprises a list of operations performed on a digital asset.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more of the plurality of audit records comprises a record of a copy being made of a digital asset.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more of the plurality of audit records comprises a record of a modification made to a digital asset.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein one of more of the plurality of audit records comprises a record of a modification made to meta-data corresponding to the digital asset.

11. A system for enabling a verifiable audit record relating to a plurality of information transactions in a computer network, the system comprising:

a computer server comprising;

a transceiver which receives, during a time interval, a plurality of audit records, each audit record corresponding to a digital asset, identifying an action performed on the digital asset, and having an associated digital signature; and

a processor in communication with the transceiver which creates, after receipt by the server of one of the plurality of audit of records, a hash value corresponding to a subset of the received audit records, the subset comprising at least two records and including the received audit record; and

associates the hash value with the received record.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the processor creates, after a receipt by the audit server of one of the plurality of records, a hash value, such that the hash value corresponds to a subset of the plurality of records, and wherein the subset comprises at least two records and comprises all records received from the beginning of the time interval to the receipt of the one of the plurality of records.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the processor creates, after each receipt by the audit server of one of the plurality of records, a hash value, such that the hash value corresponds to a subset of the plurality of records, and wherein the subset comprises at least two records and comprises all records received from the beginning of the time interval to the receipt of the one of the plurality of records.

14. The system of claim 11 wherein the time interval is selected from the group of:

a half-hour, an hour, six hours, a day, and a week.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the transceiver transmits the hash value, after the time interval has elapsed, by the server to a trusted entity.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein one or more of the plurality of audit records comprises an asset identification tag.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein one of more of the plurality of audit records comprises a list of operations performed on a digital asset.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein one or more of the plurality of audit records comprises a record of a copy being made of a digital asset.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein one or more of the plurality of audit records comprises a record of a modification made to a digital asset.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein one of more of the plurality of audit records comprises a record of a modification made to meta-data corresponding to the digital asset.

21. A computer readable medium having executable instructions thereon to create a verifiable audit record relating to a plurality of information transactions in a computer network, the computer readable medium comprising:

(a) instructions to receive, at a server during a time interval, a plurality of audit records, each audit record corresponding to a digital asset, identifying an action performed on the digital asset, and having an associated digital signature;

(b) instructions to create, after receipt by the server of one of the plurality of audit of records, a hash value corresponding to a subset of the received audit records, the subset comprising at least two records and including the received audit record; and

(c) instructions to associate, by the server, the hash value with the received record.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 21 wherein the instructions to create comprise instructions to create, after a receipt by the audit server of one of the plurality of records, a hash value, such that the hash value corresponds to a subset of the plurality of records, and wherein the subset comprises at least two records and comprises all records received from the beginning of the time interval to the receipt of the one of the plurality of records.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 21 wherein the instructions to create comprise instructions to create, after each receipt by the audit server of one of the plurality of records, a hash value, such that the hash value corresponds to a subset of the plurality of records, and wherein the subset comprises at least two records and comprises all records received from the beginning of the time interval to the receipt of the one of the plurality of records.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 21 wherein the time interval is selected from the group of:

a half-hour, an hour, six hours, a day, and a week.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 21, further comprising instructions to transmit the hash value, after the time interval has elapsed, by the server to a trusted entity.

26. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein one or more of the plurality of audit records comprises an asset identification tag.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein one of more of the plurality of audit records comprises a list of operations performed on a digital asset.

28. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein one or more of the plurality of audit records comprises a record of a copy being made of a digital asset.

29. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein one or more of the plurality of audit records comprises a record of a modification made to a digital asset.

30. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein one of more of the plurality of audit records comprises a record of a modification made to meta-data corresponding to the digital asset.