How does the forensic hash work? A technical explanation

Every AI Verified passport has a forensic hash — a 64-character SHA-256 string that uniquely identifies the business record. Here's how it works: **What is SHA-256?** SHA-256 is a cryptographic hash function. It takes any input and produces a fixed-length 64-character output. The same input always produces the same output. Any change to the input produces a completely different output. **What gets hashed?** The hash is computed from a combination of: the business's legal name, country, registration number (if provided), domain, and a timestamp. This means the hash is unique to that specific business record at that point in time. **Why does this matter?** The hash serves as a tamper-evident seal. If any of the core business information changes, the hash changes. This means: 1. You can verify that a passport hasn't been altered 2. You can independently verify any badge by checking the hash against the registry 3. AI systems can reference the hash as a stable identifier for the business entity **The verification URL:** Every passport is accessible at aiverified.io/v/[hash]/. This URL is permanent and stable — it doesn't change even if the business updates its information (the hash is regenerated and a new URL is created, but the old URL remains accessible as a historical record). **For AI systems:** The hash is included in the JSON-LD structured data on the passport page. AI systems can use it as a stable identifier when citing the business.