Telefónica Tech launches blockchain-based document certification service  

Telefónica Tech announces today the launch of an innovative blockchain-based certification service that allows any company to authenticate documents, transactions, projects, files or any type of digital content quickly, easily and with legal support.

Each certification generated through the TrustOS managed blockchain service combines the digital signature of the user (effective proof of the identity of the applicant) with a trace of the content to be certified (proof that the original content remains unchanged since it was certified) and the time stamp inherent in blockchain to establish with complete certainty the time at which the certification was issued.

Telefónica Tech’s new service allows companies to generate digital evidence of authorship, ownership and integrity of the dynamic history of versions and interactions of any digital format (files, images, emails, etc.) with the same probative value, compared to a classic digital signature that only offers these guarantees for a specific version of a PDF document.

The service, which is built on the TrustOS platform designed by Telefónica Tech to facilitate and simplify the connection of companies’ business processes with the blockchain network, allows unlimited use cases to be built for numerous productive sectors:

• Training: Certificates of attendance to courses, congresses and trade fairs, academic qualifications and professional accreditations.
• Industrial property: Business secrecy, software deposit, trademark protection, infringement of protected content, safeguarding of engineering projects and construction plans.
• Products: Certificates and compliance with warranty conditions, authenticity and limited series, proof of origin and/or ownership, evidence of preservation and transmissions.
• Media: Authorship of images and multimedia content, registration of original content, among others.
• Agriculture: Recording of field notebooks, quality certificates and bio-sanitary analyses.
• Administrative and legal: Contracts and documents, registration of confidential information, minutes and notifications, digital certification and notarisation.
• Insurance: Visual recording of claims and documentary evidence, as well as recording of documentation.

Telefónica’s Legal Affairs & Digital Legal Transformation department has started a pilot project to use this technology to track confidential information exchanged with Telefónica’s partners in different projects. Through a simple integration with existing information and document registration systems, employees exchanging confidential information register the documentation and/or e-mails they send to the counterpart.

In this way, when any incident or claim related to potential breaches of the confidentiality clauses of any contract occurs, it is possible to demonstrate with digital evidence what information has been shared, when and with whom, quickly identifying the source of the claim and, where appropriate, drastically reducing the time it takes to resolve these incidents.

For Luis Prendes, Global Head of Legal Affairs & Digital Legal Transformation at Telefónica, “the incorporation of innovative technologies such as blockchain in the management of contracts and legal documentation, in general, is a key step for the secure digital transformation of companies. This innovative solution provides full traceability of sensitive information leaving the company’s perimeter and can deal much more efficiently with day-to-day problems such as information leaks and breaches of confidentiality clauses.”
CT Bureau