Blockchain will record time data on digital certificates.
The National Institute of Information Technology released new rules for the time stamp system for digital certificates and with that, reaffirmed the use of the Hyperledger blockchain platform. In late 2020, the institution informed Blocknews that the use of blockchain, at that time, should “be seen as an experimental initiative, restricted to the Time Stamp”.
The disclosure of the rules took place last Friday (12) with the publication of ITI Normative Instruction No. 19, of 10 November last. The document establishes technical requirements for the approval of time stamp equipment in the Brazilian Public Key Infrastructure – ICP-Brasil. The previous rule citing blockchain was ITI No. 18 December 2020.
The issuance of digital certificates takes place through the Brazilian Public Key Infrastructure – ICP-Brasil. In this process, the so-called Time Stamp Servers (SCTs), that is, the hardware, need to “implement a sending mechanism for distributed record bases (blockchain) according to the framework Hyperledger, of blocks with cryptographic summaries of the trees”. Trees are the chain of time.
What will be in the blockchain will be, therefore, the record of what time and time of existence of a document. The stamp is given by the Time Stamp Authority (ACT). It is responsible for one or more SCTs that connect to ICP-Brasil’s Time Stamp network.
According to the ITI, the number of digital certificate issues with ICP-Brasil reached 6,176,560 in 2021, which represents 101.76% of the result for the entire year of 2020. The forecast is for 6.980 million this year . In total, the registration of active certificates reached 10,509,730.