Document verification confirms that official documents — contracts, certificates, government records, financial statements — are genuine and unaltered. This module covers both digital and physical document authentication techniques.
Digital Document Verification
Signature Verification
Digital signatures use public key cryptography. Verify the signature chain, check certificate validity, and confirm the signing authority is legitimate.
Template Matching
Compare against known authentic templates. Official documents use specific fonts, layouts, watermarks, and security features that forgeries often get wrong.
Physical Security Features
Government and financial documents include security features designed to resist forgery: microprinting, UV-reactive inks, optically variable devices, security threads, and intaglio printing. Document verification professionals must know which features to check for each document type.
| Feature | Found In | Verification Method |
|---|---|---|
| Microprinting | Currency, IDs, diplomas | Magnification (10-20x) |
| UV Reactive Ink | Passports, certificates | UV light examination |
| Holograms / OVDs | Credit cards, IDs | Tilt and angle inspection |
| Digital Signatures | PDFs, contracts | Certificate chain validation |
AI-Generated Documents
Modern AI can generate convincing fake documents including invoices, contracts, and certificates. Detection focuses on metadata analysis, template accuracy, content consistency, and provenance verification against issuing authority records.
Document verification connects to Metadata Analysis for digital documents and the forensic techniques in Digital Forensics for Media.