Smart & Light: Plug-in module for long-term qualified record storage (7 min)
Electronic signatures age along with the technologies they rely on, and verifying them years later is not guaranteed. The lecture explained why long-term preservation is crucial, what common approaches exist, and what innovation the technological partnership of Archimetes and Software 602 brings to the Slovak market. On paper, durability and signature verification are intuitive and have been known for centuries, whereas with electronic documents everything relies on algorithms, keys, and certificates. These components become outdated over time, certificate issuers cease to exist, and the original services may no longer be available. Long-term preservation therefore adds evidence and timestamps so that it is possible to verify the validity of the document even in 15 or 20 years, regardless of the original provider. The argument is not only lawsuits, but also the Act on Registries and Archives, which requires storing the data needed to verify the signature together with the electronic record. Common signing applications often create only the baseline T profile, which does not meet these requirements. What is needed is the archival baseline LTA profile, and the informatization ministry recommends keeping documents in a verifiable form, for example through a qualified trust service under eIDAS.Why digital signatures need maintenance
Robert Kuchár
