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CypheRix introduces new evidence recording devices

CypheRix, a solutions house for encryption systems which offers expertise in hardware and software engineering related to encryption and security, has introduced an innovative family of evidence recording devices.

Evidence Recorders are small, low-power, audio recording devices which secure the information recorded in a way that irrefutably guarantees it has not been altered. Evidence Recorders establish irrefutability by a cryptographic digital certification scheme, satisfying the stringent demands of a court of law.

This technology can be used to record high-level meetings, legal proceedings, disciplinary hearings and interviews of any kind. Current versions of the Evidence Recorder Series are for recording audio, and later versions may accept digital still photographs, fingerprints and video.

According to Simon Rix, director of CypheRix, "The certification process makes use of recognised cryptographic algorithms recommended by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the United States of America for use in cryptographic equipment. The data stream is certified in small segments, which allows the user to limit the amount of information stored to the essential elements if required."

Adds Rix, "The validation process used in this family of products proves conclusively that the recording was not altered in any way. This is ideal in a law court or anywhere needing a high degree of certitude."

The covert evidence gathering production model

The recorder has an internal microphone and an external microphone socket. The recorded audio is digitised, compressed and certified. The recorder is designed to work with the TRAM external microphone - recognised as a world class product, and which can be ordered as an extra with the recorder.

The certified audio information can be copied to a personal computer via the USB 1.1 port.

Says Rix, "The audio information and the certificates are stored on an industry standard multimedia card (MMC) or secure digital (SD) card. This is removable so the user can record additional information without first clearing the memory and downloading it to a PC.

"The compression algorithm was chosen for quality of recording rather than aggressive memory saving. An hour of voice recording requires 16 Mbytes of storage space, and two AA cells provide at least 16 hours operation. A smartcard chip (without the card) is used for the cryptographic functionality, both for rapid operation and to guarantee the security of the secret exponent," he says.

The multimedia card/SD used to store the compressed audio and RSA certificates is the readily available type used by digital cameras and similar equipment. The memory capacity of these devices, currently 128 Mbyte, increases with time, and two vendors are shipping 0,5 GByte versions. A 128 MByte MMC holds over eight hours of recording. The size of SD cards is even greater than MMCs with 1 GByte versions available, allowing recordings of more than three days, given a suitable power supply. Industry sources project 4 GByte devices soon.

Extremely versatile

Adds Rix, "This audio recorder is extremely versatile. If required it can be jigged to be sound activated. A separate small interface circuit can be purchased to connect the recorder directly to a telephone line. An 'off-hook' signal is used to trigger recordings. The small 2,5 mm socket is used for this purpose. The pushbuttons used to start and stop the recording sequences are housed internally in the casing. This prevents the user from accidentally disabling the device when concealed on their person.

"Currently we are considering several versions. Each of these versions will have the same basic audio certification functionality as the covert version. Other requests which have been received which would use this product's cryptographic approach include: To be able to directly interface to a digital camera via USB so that JPEG compressed photographs can be read for the camera, certified and stored on the MMC/SD card along with any recorded audio; an interface to a USB based fingerprint reader; and to be able to combine a number of audio channels onto the certified recording."

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