electronic signature & cryptographydevelopment & expert consulting

development & expert consulting

TimeStamp

TimeStamp Library from Polysys is a turnkey implementation of TSA (Time Stamping Authority) server according to the RFC 3161 standard. The included development kit provides support for Java applications for creating and sending time-stamp requests and completing all time-stamp related tasks.

It is a perfect solution to produce certified electronic copies of paper-based documents by the public administration organization that is authorised to issue the notarial document.

The time-stamp can provide strong legal evidence that data existed at a point-in-time and have not changed since that time. The integrity of any type of data can be protected within a few milliseconds.

Ready for IBM PureSystems™ validated
The IBM PureFlex™ System integrates servers, storage, networking, virtualization, and management as well as control over tuning the middleware and run-time environment.

This built-in expertise enables organization to simply manage, and flexibly deploy, integrated patterns of virtual and hardware resources through unified management.

The TimeStamp Library achieved the Ready for IBM PureSystems™ validation and is available as virtual appliance on the IBM PureFlex™ System.
About time-stamps
Time-stamp authority (TSA) is a service providing electronic message containing also the trustworthy time of issuance.

The time-stamp technique is based on digital signatures and hash functions. First a hash is calculated from the document. A hash is a sort of digital fingerprint if the original data: a string of bits that is different for each set of data. If the original data is changed then this will result in a completely different hash. This hash is sent to the TSA.

The TSA concatenates a trusted time to the hash and calculates the hash of this concatenation. This hash is digitally signed with the private key of the TSA. This signed time-stamp token sent back to the requester of the time-stamp who stores these with the original data.
TimeStamp Library
The TimeStamp Library was designed to provide cost effective all-in-one solution for organizations that want to integrate time-stamps into their existing or newly setup services and developed applications, like e-invoicing, public administration systems, etc.

The TimeStamp Library contains server applications for setup time-stamp services and applications for using and verifying time-stamps on client side.

The TimeStamp Library breaks out from ‘Pay as you use’ model, no continuous fee or cost of time-stamp, infinite amounts time-stamp are available free of charge.
TimeStampServer
The TimeStampServer offers a number of advantages that make it easy to establish a time-stamping service:
  • fully compliant with IETF RFC 3161;
  • X.509 standards compliant;
  • can be used via HTTP or socket based protocol;
  • can be used with or without FIPS 140-2 approved and CC EAL4+ certified Hardware Security Module for cryptographic key storage and operation via PKCS#11 interface;
  • can be used with PKCS#12 compliant software keystore;
  • supports long signing keys up to 4096 bit;
  • supports strong hash algorithms (SHA256, SHA384, SHA512) however SHA1 is also can be used;
  • supports strong signing algorithms (SHA256withRSA, SHA384withRSA, SHA512withRSA) however, SHA1withRSA is also can be used;
  • reliable and scalable solution, designed for high throughput;
  • easy to install and configure;
  • can be deployed within any J2EE compliant application server;
  • supports up to 4096 bit RSA keys;
  • can be deployed within any J2EE compliant application server;
  • or can be used as stand-alone server;
  • cross-platform availability: runs on different hardware configurations and under multiple operating systems..
Interoperability
The interoperability of the time-stamp client implementation has been tested with several time-stamping service providers in Europe.
Timestamp Authority (TSA)
The TimeStampServer is a highly effective, flexible server designed for use as a high volume commercial service TSA.

The TimeStampServer can be used for internal TSA needs on the intranet or it can be used to provide infrastructure-class commercial TSA services on the internet.

The TimeStampServer issues a time stamp token upon receipt of a request from an external time-stamp client.

The TimeStampServer uses the Network Time Protocol (NTP) to achieve automatic clock synchronisation. Multiple Stratum 1 time server can be configured and used as time source.

Logging can be configured through a log4j configuration file. The received time-stamp requests and the reply time-stamp tokens can be logged into files, database, JMS queue, logging server.

The TimeStampServer includes a servlet that interacts with the back-end TSA server. Thus, transaction recording into database for billing purposes can easily be added.

Multiple instances can be deployed within the J2EE container each with their different time stamping policy and with unique signing keys (e.g. for internal and external communities).

Flexible authentication and authorisation: the TimeStampServer uses the security capabilities and features of the J2EE container as running inside the container.
Administrative and infrastructure security, user registries, security domains and realms can be configured via the administrative console of the J2EE container.
Key features
The TimeStamp Library provides the below important features:
  • platform-independent, 100% pure Java solution;
  • contains everything that is needed to implement RFC 3161 specification, encoding and decoding time-stamp requests and responses and accessing the contained information;
  • contains a TSA client implementation for requesting, using and verifying time-stamps;
  • contains the TSA socket server implementation;
  • contains the TSA HTTP server implementation; includes the Java source code of the servlet component so it can be integrated into complex public administration services;
  • contains Ant scripts to compile, build and deploy the client and server parts; by using the provided Ant script, the first time-stamp can be requested within a few minutes;
  • works on Java Runtime Environment versions 1.4.2, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7 and compatible.
Tested platforms
The TimeStampServer has been tested on the platforms listed below:
AIX 5.3 / 6.1
IBM PureFlex System with x240
iSOS 5.3 / 6.1 (AS400)
HP-UX 11.23
Mac OS X Leopard / Snow Leopard / Mountain Lion Novell Linux Enterprise Server 9
RedHat Enterprise Linux Advanced Server 3 / 4 / 5.3 Solaris 9 / 10
SuSE Linux 9 / 9.3 / 10 / 10.2 Enterprise SP2 Ubuntu Linux 8.12
Windows 2000 / XP /2003 / Vista / 2008 Enterprise / 7

Please contact us for any additional information.