TS ISO 17068

TS ISO 17068 addresses the trusted third party repository (TTPR) for digital records and focuses on how such a service should be positioned to safeguard a client’s records as reliable evidence. The core technical concern is the demonstrable preservation of integrity and authenticity over the retention period, so that records can be trusted as what they claim to be and shown not to have been improperly altered.

This standard applies to retention or repository services for digital records used as evidence during legally required retention periods in both the private and public sectors. In practical terms, a TTPR can be understood as a trusted service layer for storing and keeping records available, while the authorized custody relationship is limited to the TTPR and the client.

What a trusted repository means in records practice

In general technical context, a digital record is electronic content created in the course of business, contractual, operational or administrative activity and retained because it may have evidential value over time. A trusted third party repository is not just storage: it is concerned with preserving verifiability, integrity, authenticity and, when needed, the record’s usefulness as evidence. That is why records management, archiving and chain-of-custody concepts are closely related here.

• Integrity: keeping the record protected against unauthorized alteration.
• Authenticity: supporting that the record is what it purports to be and comes from the stated source.
• Retention service: keeping records available for the required period.
• Source of evidence: enabling records to be relied on for legal or organizational purposes.

By defining this service model, TS ISO 17068 also clarifies the relationship between record protection and the client that owns or supplies the records. The result is a common framework and vocabulary for keeping digital records reliably held, managed and available as evidence when needed.