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The Evolution of Document Authentication

David Doermann, University of Maryland. The Evolution of Document Authentication. Authentication. The process of verifying with some level of certainty that an entity is what it represents itself to be. confirming the identity of a person , tracing the origins of an artifact ,

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The Evolution of Document Authentication

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  1. David Doermann, University of Maryland The Evolution of Document Authentication ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  2. Authentication The process of verifying with some level of certainty that an entity is what it represents itself to be. confirming the identity of a person, tracing the origins of an artifact, ensuring that a product is what its packaging and labeling claims to be, or assuring that a electronic file is a trusted one ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  3. The process of verifying with some level of certainty that an entity is what it represents itself to be. Why is it interesting? • Difficult to define a consistent process • How do we define a level of certainty? • It only takes one piece of inconsistent evidence to prove something is not authentic. • Differs from traditional pattern recognition • Looking for outliers • May not interested in judging the accuracy of the content • Fundamentally focused on the “details” ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  4. Why Authenticate? • Historical Significance • Security Assurance • Identity • We got what we expected from whom we expected it! • Proving/Disproving Association - Forensics • Financial Implications ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  5. Nov 12, 2010 - CNN ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  6. Killian Documents Documents critical of President Bush’s National Guard Service, given to 60 minutes Stated President has not fulfilled his obligations to the National Guard. Dan Rather suggested they were authentic Source had a history of claims of falsifying records… ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  7. Today's topics…. The Problem of Authentication Role of Forgers Historical Background for Documents The Authentication Process Highlights of some Famous Cases Influence of Technology Implications for Document Analysis ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  8. How DOES one Authenticate? • Comparing the attributes of the entity itself to what is known about entities known origin • Style • Presentation • Is the presentation consistent with expectations? • Physical Composition • Known materials, techniques • Content • What is known about the period it was produced ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  9. Also…. • External Affirmation • Chain of Custody • Logs, Testimony • Video/Audio recordings • Primary Challenges: • Techniques are often content or domain dependent • Missing or incomplete information • Knowing you have done “enough” ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  10. Forgery An attempt to imply or establish a false association or false impression of authenticity Archeology Art Currency (counterfeiting) Literary Music Relics Documents Computers and Computer Systems ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  11. Why Forge? • Financial Gain – Money • Fame/Power • Cover criminal activity • Malpractice • Negligence • Unduly influence • Poison pen Letters ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  12. Properties of Expert Forgers • Must exhibit skill in the ability to reproduce • Style, Presentation, Physical Composition…. • Have knowledge of the background of the entity • Be able to provide supplemental information about the history of the entity ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  13. Howard Hughes Autobiography (1971) • Presented by Clifford Irving as authorized author • Provided extensive supporting Material • Agreements with Hughes himself • Fake Interviews, Bank accounts • Supported the Eccentric lifestyle of Hughes • Documents verified by experts, and results in contracts with publisher • 2 years later….Hughes emerged confirmed it was not authorized ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  14. Writer Identification • Unknown Penmanship • Music, literature, correspondence • Wills, legal documents • Criminal Acts • Ransom • Extortion • Blackmail/Crankmail/Threats ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  15. w/ Disguised Writing • Indicators • Slant, Size, altered forms • Initial/End Strokes • Identifying the writer • Difficult to change ingrained habits • Letter Design, Spacing, Proportions rarely change, • Baseline position, punctuation • Effective – other hand writing ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  16. Lindbergh Baby Ransom Letter Pioneering Writer ID Case - 1934 ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  17. Related Questions… • Is the entity genuine (vs. disguised?) • Any part of the entity a forgery? • Can we identify the author/forger? • Are two (forged or authentic) entities • produced by the same individual? • produced at the same time? ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  18. The Problem of Authentication Role of Forgers Historical Background for Documents The Authentication Process Highlights of some Famous Cases Influence of Technology Implications for Document Analysis ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  19. History and Influence on Documents Cuneiform Tablets were among the earliest forms of recoded information Records documented ownership Alphabets evolved and tokens evolved as a form of “money” Common people did not have the ability reproduce such documents ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  20. Early Banknotes – China 7th–9th century Yuan Dynasty Jiaozi - Song Dynasty Resulted from a shortage of coins Promissory notes evolved to standardized notes Rich would leave coins in exchange for a “note” ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  21. Early Currency – Europe/US • Currency began to take hold in the early 1800s as the most common form of payment • Originally very simply and easy to reproduce • Production • Banks originally printed their own currency • 1600 banks gave rise to 4000 forged and 7000 genuine banknotes ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  22. Historical Timeline • 80 BC - History of forgery traced to Romans who wrote laws to prohibit falsification of “records” primarily for land transfers • 1562 - statute passed in the time of Queen Elizabeth I - An Act against forgers of false deeds and writings for public records • England issued simple - 1 pound notes in 1819 and 94,000 people were arrested and 7700 put to death • 1823 – US Law against false marking, altering or forgery to attain financial gain ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  23. Producing Fraudulent entities • Duplication • Copy of an original source • Alterations • Insertions/Deletions • Chemical Modifications • Folds/Stamps – creates broken fibers and ink spreads… • Creation • Duplicate style, content and presentation ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  24. Signs of Fraud • Erasures, added/removed • Order of Writing • Artificial aging? • Believability of the writing instruments? • Blunt Initial/End Strokes, Line tremor, Pauses • Regular Pressure Patterns • Tracing/Retracing • Gooping, Striations ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  25. The Problem of Authentication Role of Forgers Historical Background for Documents The Authentication Process Highlights of some Famous Cases Influence of Technology Implications for Document Analysis ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  26. Document Authentication Process • Analysis of Characteristic Features • Linguistic, stylistic, presentation, composition • Comparison against standard • Known Samples • Collected Samples • Evaluation • Similarities, Differences, Uniqueness, Frequency • Verification ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  27. Handwriting • Handwriting – Arguably First Forensic Discipline • Principals document examiners rely on • No two are alike • Individual characteristics exist • Handwriting produced from mental images • Subconscious/ballistic actions • Changes/Influenced due to external factors • Age, flexibility, environment • Presentation effected by physical characteristics of materials and the process ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  28. Characteristics • Movement – direction, slant, rhythm, pressure, quality, speed • Spatial Relationship – size, portion, spacing, utilization, arrangement, alignment • Form – design, construction, initial, terminal, connecting, embellishments strokes ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  29. Automated Document AnalysisRecovery and Interpretation D. S. Doermann and A. Rosenfeld. Recovery of Temporal Information from Static Images of Handwriting. IJCV 52(1-2), pages 143-164, 1994. • Authentic writing has temporalfeatures in the static presentation • Begin/End Stroke Features • Striations • Pressure Variations • Width Variations • Intensity changes with overlaps ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  30. Used to Analyze Stroke Patterns ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  31. Document AnalysisInfluence of Physical and Biomechanical Processes K. Franke. The influence of Physical and Biomechanical Processes on Ink Trace – Methodological foundations for the forensic analysis of Signatures, PhD Thesis, 2005. • Need • “ for a scientific basis for procedures applied in forensic analysis of signatures” • “to derive advanced computational methods for processing of signatures” • Research includes • Analysis of writing materials and ink-trace • Device calibration • Signature and Stroke Analysis

  32. Solid, Viscous and Fluid Inks Franke 2005 Autocorrelation can provide reliable features for ink classification ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  33. Identifying Copies and Traces Franke 2005 ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  34. Irregular Writing Franke 2005 ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  35. Other Authentication Questions • Can one Associate a document with a specific device • Typically imperfections in the output • Focus on mechanical properties • Examples • Printer tolerances, physical layout • Imperfections unique in writing instruments • Is a document a “genuine” reproduction? ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  36. Famous Questioned Documents Shakespeare Manuscripts Vinland Maps of North America Dead Sea Scrolls James “Bone” Box ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  37. Shakespeare Manuscripts Announced in the mid 1790s by Samuel Ireland Included four plays, two of which were unknown manuscripts Supporting documents ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  38. Shakespeare Manuscripts • Analysis: • language, • orthography, and • handwriting were not consistent with those of the times • Historical inaccuracies – places not in existence…. • VERDICT: FORGERY ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  39. Vinland Maps of America • First Discovered in 1957, bound with Tartar Relation and later with second volume Speculum Historiale • Hypothesis: Dated to 1440s • Questions • Is it authentic? • Was it produced by Vikings Settlers? • Issues Addressed: • Archeological • Cartographic • Carbon Dating • Pigments • Possible suspects • The text ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  40. Vinland Maps of America • Known • Parchment dates from anticipated period • Vikings now known to have settled North America prior to Columbus • Issues • Vikings not known for detailed Maps • Some 17th century Latin Text but 14th century fonts • Greenland seen as a Island • First circumnavigation 1800s ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  41. Vinland Maps of America Worm Holes not aligned in original volume, but later found to be aligned with a second volume Binding was from the 20th century…. Not Iron-Gal Ink - anatase (TiO2) - 20th Century VERDICT: Still Debated ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  42. Dead Sea Scrolls • Discovered from 1947-56 in eleven limestone caves carved out of cliffs along the Dead Sea • Total of 972 documents containing Biblical, Apocrypha and Secular text • All parties agree on the importance of these scrolls but differ on • the identity of their authors & • the circumstances of their composition ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  43. Originally held by private antiquities dealers Written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek Physical analysis Dated from 150BC to 70CE Eventually sold and donated to various museums Took almost 50 years to unroll and translate the “best” of the scrolls ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  44. Some philosophical Questions • Were these scrolls composed for members of the same community or for different groups? • Were these scrolls produced at Qumran or were they brought there from someplace else? • Do the contents of these scrolls clarify or alter traditional interpretations of Jewish history & Christian origins? ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  45. Temple Scroll Composition July 10, 2010, National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) in Catania, Sicily Used "XPIXE" -- X-ray and Particle Induced X-ray emission -- and a particle accelerator Found chlorine and that the ratio of chlorine to bromine, 3x higher than normal sea water Verdict: Created Locally in Qumran (now Israel) using water from Dead Sea ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  46. James (Brother of Jesus) bone box (2002) Ya'akov bar YosefakhuidiYeshua James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus conformed well to first century Aramaic letter forms and word usage Showed up in a private collection, not at an archeological sight ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  47. Analysis • scratches on the ossuary are coated in the original patina • only the inscription and its immediate surroundings are coated with an artificial "patina“ • Verdict: The ossuary is authentic. Its inscription is a forgery ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  48. Other Famous Forgeries/Controversies • Hitler Diaries (1983) • Forgeries fooled even experts • Discovered to be written on modern paper • Jack the Ripper Diaries (1992) • Written to be similar to a known suspect • mistaken notions about the Ripper crimes • Reference to modern Liverpool landmarks - Poste House • The Jehoash/Joash Inscription (2003) • Reviled in the antiquities Market • Table genuine, inscription unknown ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  49. The Problem of Authentication Role of Forgers Historical Background for Documents The Authentication Process Highlights of some Famous Cases Influence of Technology Implications for Document Analysis ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

  50. Technological Advancements • People - Biometrics • Physical: DNA, Finger/Palm, Iris, Face Recognition • Behavioral: Gait, Voice, Typing • Computers • Access: Captuas, Biometrics • Authentication: electronic signatures, encryption • Criminals have access too • Counterfeiting: Desktop computing, printers • Forgeries: Access to online information ICFHR - Kolkata India - November 16th, 2010

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