Distributed Ledger Chain of Custody for Forensic Data Integrity

The patent applies preliminary action by computing and recording hash values of forensic data immediately upon automatic collection, before any human intervention or digital signature application. This creates an immutable timestamped record in a distributed ledger that prevents later manipulation, effectively closing the time gap vulnerability while maintaining authentication reliability.

The patent segments the chain of custody system into multiple distributed ledgers, each serving a specific function: one ledger for raw forensic data, another for hash values, and a third for chain of custody metadata. This segmentation allows the system to achieve high data integrity through cryptographic linking while managing complexity by distributing functionality across separate, specialized ledger structures rather than requiring a single complex system.

The patent uses copying by creating hash value replicas of the original forensic data and storing these copies in separate distributed ledgers. Instead of moving or duplicating the entire raw data across multiple ledgers, the system computes hash copies that serve as immutable fingerprints. This approach maintains robust chain of custody certification through multiple ledger copies while minimizing data processing overhead by working with compact hash representations rather than large raw datasets.