Controlled digital evidence capture for teams that need more than screenshots.
Provena helps organizations capture online activity in a controlled remote browser, preserve the resulting evidence with cryptographic integrity references, organize it into a structured package, and generate reports designed for legal, compliance, audit, investigative, and technical review.
Controlled capture
The session runs in a dedicated remote browser operated by Provena — not on your machine, and not in your everyday browser. That difference is what separates controlled capture from a browsing session that happened to be recorded.
- A locked-down interaction policy, enforced server-side: system shortcuts, developer tools, and the context menu are refused, and navigation is restricted to http and https.
- A single-use worker per session, destroyed afterwards — isolation by disposal, not by cleanup.
- Viewport and full-page screenshots with a provenance mark rendered into the pixels: the Provena label, capture timestamp, and session identifier travel inside the image itself.
- Video recording with full technical metadata — resolution, frame rate, duration, codecs — plus navigation aids for later review.
- Downloads preserved as evidence through a controlled acceptance path, with organization-level limits enforced at the runtime.
- Server identity captured per origin: TLS certificate, IP address, DNS records, and fingerprints.
- Watch mode — an invited witness can observe the live session without controlling it.
Integrity & chain of custody
Every file is fingerprinted, every step is recorded — as the work happens, not reconstructed later. The custody chain is implemented, not asserted: modification, deletion, reordering, and insertion are all detectable on verification.
- SHA-512 as the canonical hash, with SHA-256 and SHA3-512 as supplementary references from different hash families.
- Transfer integrity: files are hashed at origin, re-hashed at destination, and stored only when the values match.
- A hash-linked custody chain — each event carries its own hash and the hash of the previous event, across setup, capture, processing, access, and retention.
- A structured evidence package (a plain ZIP file) with a manifest inventory listing every file, its path, size, and hash.
- Two distinct seals: the package seal fixes the evidence set; the custody seal fixes the recorded chain itself.
- An access trail: report views, package downloads, and public checks become custody events after sealing.
External proofs
The package hash and the custody seal are registered with independent external providers — creating proof of existence that stands on its own, even without trusting Provena. Only hashes are registered; evidence content never leaves the platform.
- Public blockchain networks: Solana, Hedera, and Algorand, with entries that can be checked on any public explorer.
- OpenTimestamps with Bitcoin attestation, producing portable .ots proof artifacts.
- RFC 3161 timestamp authorities such as Sectigo and DigiCert — signed, dated tokens from regulated third parties.
- Independent families corroborating the same value: different systems fail in different ways, and multiple confirmed sources strengthen the record.
Reports & analysis
The same canonical record, readable by three different audiences — and equipped with the analysis tools reviewers actually use.
- An online report plus a PDF/A-2B export (ISO 19005-2), the archival format designed for long-term readability.
- Three reading modes — Essential, Legal, Technical — adjusting depth and timestamp presentation without changing the underlying record.
- A custody analyzer with six views — table, timeline, sequence, flow, mindmap, and verifier — for inspecting the chain in depth.
- A frame-by-frame video timeline with chapters, frame export, and A/B loop; screenshot comparison with side-by-side, slider, and pixel-difference analysis.
- Legal support material: suggested filing language, an attachment checklist, and Word export.
- Every report ships with its own methodology, threat model, audit instructions, and glossary.
Independent verification
Verification that does not require trusting Provena — or even having an account.
- A public check for sessions and files, open to anyone who receives Provena material.
- Private-by-design file verification: the hash is computed locally in the reviewer's browser, and the file content is never uploaded.
- In-browser custody verification that recomputes every event hash and checks the chain's links live.
- Canonical custody export and audit scripts for fully offline verification with standard tools.
What a session preserves.
- Screenshots
- Static visual captures of the browser state, with the provenance mark in the pixels.
- Videos
- Time-based recordings preserving motion, sequence, and procedural flow.
- Files
- Standalone files obtained during the session — source material preserved with the session that produced it.
- Page snapshots
- One image plus saved HTML per unique page visited — a navigation catalogue supporting the primary evidence.
- Technical logs
- Structured session, network, and domain records supporting audit and reconstruction.
- Server identity
- TLS certificate, IP, and DNS data observed during capture, for reviewing the remote origin.
- Evidence package
- The consolidated set — every preserved file plus the manifest inventory — sealed as one unit.
- Custody chain
- The hash-linked sequence of events documenting capture, transfer, storage, access, proof, and retention.
From session to sealed record.
- 01 The session is created with its context: label, initial URL, resolution, locale, and timezone.
- 02 A dedicated remote worker is allocated — and the custody chain starts recording.
- 03 The operator works: screenshots, video, downloads, page snapshots, and logs are generated as evidence.
- 04 Every file is hashed at origin and verified again at storage before it is accepted.
- 05 The package is consolidated with its manifest and sealed; after teardown, the custody chain itself is sealed.
- 06 The package hash and custody seal are registered with independent external-proof providers.
- 07 The report is available for review — and the record is open to public and offline verification from then on.
Every capability, documented.
What the platform preserves, what reviewers can verify independently, what depends on external systems — and what Provena does not claim. It's all written down.
Read our methodology →See the platform working.
The fastest way to evaluate Provena is a real session and a real report.