Trust · Audit evidence
Can we prove what happened, and that nobody changed the record?
Decisions are written to an append-only, hash-chained ledger that can be verified on its own. It shows who decided, and it never records an AI as the person who made a decision.
No certification, audit or independent assessment is held. Each statement below shows how sure the project is of it.
What exists, and how sure we are
- Tested locallyThe decision ledgers are hash-chained and append-only, so a change anywhere breaks every link after it, and the chain can be verified independently.Recorded in the security assurance record.
- Tested locallyThe account the application runs as cannot truncate, drop or alter the evidence tables, or switch off the protections on them.Recorded in the security assurance record.
- Needs checking on a live systemHow that account is set up on a real database has to be inspected there.Recorded in the security assurance record.
- Tested locallyAn AI or automated actor can never be recorded as the person who made a decision.Recorded in the security assurance record.
- Tested locallyA value shaped like a secret is refused in a ledger summary.Recorded in the security assurance record.
- Tested locallyDownloading an evidence export is recorded once per request, and a replayed request is refused.Recorded in the security assurance record.
- Partly in placeWho holds administrative access to a deployed environment has not been reviewed.Recorded in the pilot evidence pack.
See it in an example
Simulation. A scripted example on fictional data. The wording is scripted and no model is called; the figures are computed from what you decide, and a person’s approval covers exactly what you decided.
Check an audit extract for broken links
- What happened
- An auditor at Redfern Credit Union (fictional) has received an extract of nine ledger entries for one approval and is checking the chain.
- The question
- Does each entry follow from the one before, and which entries need a finding raised? Asked by: Internal auditor at a customer (fictional).
Check an audit extract for broken linksEach flagged entry breaks a rule the ledger keeps. Raise a finding for it, or mark it explained; the number of entries that depend on it is recomputed.Open
Each flagged entry breaks a rule the ledger keeps. Raise a finding for it, or mark it explained; the number of entries that depend on it is recomputed.
Review each flagged record: confirm it or dismiss it. The totals and the answer below follow your decisions.
Entry Recorded as made by Check Entries that depend on it Finding Decision #38 Procedure submitted for approval Author (a person) Follows #37 1 Matched None needed #39 Approval requested Author (a person) Follows #38 1 Matched None needed #40 Approved Approver (a person, freshly signed in) Follows #39 1 Matched None needed #41 Approval note edited An administrator account Does not follow #40 5 Its link does not match the entry before it: the chain is broken here #42 Published Approver (a person) Follows #41 1 Matched None needed #43 Summary drafted AI assistant, labelled as an AI Follows #42 1 Matched None needed #44 Decision recorded AI assistant An AI as the decision-maker 2 A decision attributed to an AI actor, which the ledger refuses to record: the extract was not produced by it #45 Evidence export downloaded Auditor (step-up sign-in) Recorded once 1 Matched None needed #46 Evidence export downloaded Auditor (the same request id) The same request recorded twice 1 The same download request recorded twice: a replay should have been refused - Flagged
- 3 of 9 · 8
- Raise a finding
- 0 · 0
- Explained
- 0 · 0
- Undecided
- 3 · 8
3 of 9 entries break a rule the ledger keeps; you raised 0 finding(s) touching 0 entries.
Each entry carries a link to the one before it, so a change anywhere breaks every link after it [S1]. That makes tampering detectable, not impossible: the check tells the auditor where to look [S2].
0 marked as explained, 3 undecided.
Relies on: S1 · Decision ledger extract, entries 38 to 46 (fictional)S2 · How the ledger verifies itself
The customer's internal auditor decides. Approving records the findings to put to the vendor. It does not alter the ledger and does not conclude that anyone acted wrongly.
Not ready. 3 flagged entrys are still undecided. Confirm or dismiss each one first.
Not done here. It does not say that anyone acted wrongly and does not alter any record: a broken link says where to look.
What a reviewer can have, and what not yet
- We can hand overA verified export of the ledger for a synthetic organisation, and the tests of its integrity rules.
- We cannot yetA review of administrative access on a deployed environment, and an independent assessment of the ledger.
The capabilities behind this
- Permissions, approvals and an audit trailWhen something goes wrong, nobody can say who could do what, who approved it and when.
- Assurance and evidenceWhen an auditor or an inspector arrives, evidence has to be found in a hurry, and gaps appear for the first time.
The other nine
- Customer-controlled accessAccess by organisation, role and location, decided on the server, and what stops when it is withdrawn.
- Read-only database connectionsWhat a read-only connection proves before every use, what it cannot do, and what a customer's administrator should check first.
- Uploaded dataLimits, what is read and what is not, and the checks that are not done.
- AI provider disclosuresWhich features can send content outside the platform, what they may send, and what has not been established.
- Encryption and access controlsWhat protects sign-in, sessions and secrets, and the controls that only a live inspection can settle.
- Human approvalsWhat an assistant may draft or propose, what it refuses, and how a person's decision is recorded.
- Data retention and deletionWhat can be deleted now, what must wait, what is kept by design, and what is not finished.
- Customer-hosted and dedicated deploymentUpload, read-only connection, natural-language questions, a customer-hosted connector and a dedicated environment: what exists.
- Pilot security requirementsThe twenty-item gate, what it counts, and what is open.