Content Immutable Storage: Truly Trustworthy and Cost-Effective Storage for Electronic Records

LIMITED DISTRIBUTION NOTICE: This report has been submitted for publication outside of IBM and will probably be copyrighted if accepted for publication. It has been issued as a Research Report for early dissemination of its contents. In view of the transfer of copyright to the outside publisher, its distribution outside of IBM prior to publication should be limited to peer communications and specific requests. After outside publication, requests should be filled only by reprints or legally obtained copies of the article (e.g. , payment of royalties). Copies may be requested from IBM T. J. Executive Summary Maintaining trustworthy records is essential for an organization to function effectively. In this white paper, we analyze what is required of the storage system to affordably enable trustworthy electronic record keeping. We note that the traditional approach of storing electronic records on WORM optical storage is no longer practical given the large and growing volume of records that have to be stored and managed today. Furthermore, the products that have recently been introduced to overcome the deficiencies of WORM optical storage fail to offer adequate protection against record tampering. Therefore, in this paper we introduce the concept of Content Immutable Storage (CIS), storage designed specifically to satisfy all of today's electronic record-keeping needs. CIS provides secure data immutability to robustly protect records from any modification, online or nearline accessibility to ensure that records can be stored and retrieved in a timely fashion, and a low total cost of ownership.