TAMPER-EVIDENT AUDIT LOGS: HASH CHAINS, MERKLE TREES, AND EXTERNAL ANCHORING

Summary from the TLDR InfoSec newsletter

This article explains how access control addresses the key questions an auditor has about logs by introducing specific mechanisms: hash chains for integrity, Merkle trees with signed checkpoints for an append-only history, and trusted time anchors like RFC 3161 or OpenTimestamps. It provides an implementation perspective on creating a cryptographically verifiable audit trail, including data structures, proof algorithms, and working Rust code. The guidance is based on established standards.