Integrity and authenticity verification of printed documents by smartphones

Abstract

To this day, most important documents are still issued on paper. The security is based on the fact that the cost of creating a counterfeit must be unattractive for counterfeiters in relation to the expected profit. This results typically in using expensive printing equipment and substrate. This work introduces an approach which evaluates paper documents using any internet enabled device with a camera and a web browser like smartphones and tablets. Optical character recognition (OCR) is used to make text machine readable after the document is recognized and rectified. Digital signatures are then used to verify the authenticity and integrity of the data. Beyond that, the requirements of privacy, robustness and usability are satisfied. By using JAB Code, a high-capacity matrix code, the data to be verified can be stored directly on the document without having to use a database. This brings key advantages compared to database-bound systems in terms of security and privacy. The use of OCR achieves high usability.