ADSS TSA Service

The ADSS TSA Service module generates RFC 3161 and RFC 5816-compliant timestamp tokens for any electronic data, providing proof that the input data (or its secure hash) existed at a specific date and time. ADSS TSA Server meets the requirements of ETSI EN 319 422 and EN 319 421 for trusted timestamp services. Additionally, it adheres to ISO/IEC 18014-2 standards for generating and verifying timestamp tokens using digital signatures with the SignedData protection method. The ADSS TSA Service also supports Microsoft Authenticode timestamp requests via the Microsoft Windows SDK code signing tool.

There are two different ways in which the ADSS Server TSA Service can be utilized to produce time stamp tokens:

Local TSA - Use the local TSA Service and local time stamp signing keys; or
External TSA - Forward the time stamp request to another external TSA. In this case the TSA Service acts as a concentrator for time stamp requests, which are being serviced by one or more back-end TSAs.

ADSS TSA Server excels because of its scalability, resilience and support for multiple pre-defined time stamp policies (multiple virtual TSAs). Its support for external trusted time monitoring and ability to alert staff to time synchronisation issues and the attention to detail in security management, including optional dual control of specific features, management reporting and transaction log views of time stamp information, are in advance of anything seen elsewhere, and these aspects are key to minimising operational time and costs.

The optional NTP time monitoring and alerting service describes how an accurate alternate time NTP source can be used to ensure date/time accuracy for the TSA service. The two modes of TSA Service are described further in the ADSS TSA Service Overview section of this help manual. The remaining parts of this section explain how to configure the TSA Service for these two modes.

The following image shows TSA Service sub-modules, details of which are given in the next sections: