As part of Codel's drive to become the standard for notarisation of all things digital it is developing a solution for authenticating the image data produced by CCTV cameras. The use of CCTV images as convicting evidence is tenuous as it is difficult to prove that the images have not been altered. Codel provides independent proof of the provenance of image data throughout the evidential process.
Codel has been awarded funding via the Welsh Assembly Government's Single Investment Fund to develop its digital notary service to serve the CCTV market.
Codel Makes CCTV Unimpeachable as Evidence
Police and security services are increasingly relying on CCTV as a source of evidence in bringing criminals to justice. Codel satisfies a real need in giving confidence in the use of digital information coupled with the ability to prove an audit trail back to the source of the evidence.
The simplicity and on line independence of Codel allows for digital evidence to be disseminated to all interested parties without devaluing its forensic integrity.
How it Works
The camera is linked online to the Codel server and requests a digital fingerprint (codelmark) to be created for a specific string of images. This unique codelmark, which cannot be subverted, is stored in the Codel database so that it can be used for later verification purposes. Codel stores the codelmark as an independent, trusted third party so that the image data can always be verified as authentic. For ease of future verification, codelmarks are stored in perpetuity in a searchable database. The Codel service can either be used simply to notarise the image data or can be extended to notarise other information or evidence relating to a particular case. Codel secures its own integrity, and that of the data registered with Codel, through a series of audit trails, the pinnacle of which is a unique codelmark that is published daily in the Financial Times.
Legal Admissibility
Codel's searchable database of notarised digital objects, and the open publication of audit trails, puts the integrity of codelmarked data into the public domain without loss of confidentiality. It is this information assurance process that makes it possible to deliver entirely electronic evidence. Codel is the only service available today that provides a comprehensive solution to the exploding problem of information assurance in the digital age, and which addresses the problem of evidential weight and legal admissibility of electronic Information.