On Thursday, Spanish telecom company Telefonica Tech announced the launch of a new documentation authentication service, leveraging blockchain technology, with legal support.
The technology will be supported by the company’s own TrustOS managed blockchain service and will combine the user’s digital signature and a cryptographic hash of the content to be certified.
Both elements are sealed onto the blockchain to provide legal providence and integrity of the data. Luis Prendes, the global director of legal affairs and digital legal transformation at Telefonica, said incorporating innovative technology like blockchain to contracts and legal documents management is a crucial step to ensure companies can securely make the digital transformation.
Replacing old tech
The company plans to use the technology to replace inefficient systems like paper documents, which are inherently error-prone, require numerous copies, and must be filed and archived, where they may get lost or damaged.
Telefonica said its legal affairs department has been leveraging this technology internally to monitor confidential information communicated with its partners.
As such, when there is an incident or claim related to a breach in confidentiality, it can be easily demonstrated with digital evidence of what was shared, when it was shared, and by whom.
The service has many use cases
Prendes said the solution provides full traceability of sensitive information out of the company’s firewall and can more efficiently deal with day-to-day issues like information leaks and breaches of confidentiality agreements.
The company said the document has many use cases including, trademark protection, proof of product ownership or receipts, training attendance, legal notarization, multimedia content and copyrights, and more.
TrustOS joins a few other services providing similar capabilities including, JustChain, Storj Labs & CapLinked, and BestSign. The blockchain concept of keeping records of every change is what enables this to work so well.