Securing File System Integrity and Version History Via Directory Merkle Trees and Blockchains

Abstract

In our data-driven world, the secure storage of information becomes more and more important. Digital data is especially affected by this topic, as digital records can be simply manipulated in the absence of special securing mechanisms. Hence, for digital archives, a verifiable mechanism to guarantee data integrity is of great importance. While it must be able to rule out manipulation, in many scenarios data updates are desirable. In this case, the version history of data must be traceable. In this paper, we propose an approach based on blockchains and Merkle Trees that fulfills both criteria: It provides a verifier with a proof of data integrity while allowing traceability of changes in the stored data.