Is this record really from CiteProof?
If someone hands you a Verification Record — across the table, in an exhibit, or by email — run these four checks before relying on it. They take under five minutes and need no account.
The issuer key
Signed records verify against this public key. A signature that does not verify under it did not come from CiteProof — no matter what the layout says. Records without a printed signature authenticate by the brief hash and the published page alone, as checks 1 and 2 describe.
62878e96e8c434e9d27b0f471b8c736a62fe7d5c512a79fb51617b6ee11f7695
1. Match the record to the brief
Every record from a checked document prints the SHA-256 hash of the exact brief it checked (sample records may omit it). Recompute the hash of the document you hold and compare: identical bytes mean the record describes that filing. A re-saved or re-scanned copy hashes differently without being a forgery -- ask the owner for the exact file they checked before concluding anything. Different bytes from that file mean the record does not describe it -- no matter how official the layout looks.
2. Check the published record
A record anyone can look up lives at a public verification page (address getciteproof.com/v/…), listed in the public verifications index. Publishing is a separate, explicit act by the account that paid for the check, and only published pages attest that the stated checks ran with the stated results on the stated date. A file with no published page is unattested: treat it as an unverified claim, not as a clearance.
3. Use the payment tell
CiteProof never collects card numbers. Payment happens on Paddle, our merchant of record — buyers leave our site to pay. Any checkout that asks for card details on a lookalike domain is fraud, full stop.
4. Use the domain and mail tells
- The only site is getciteproof.com. Close variants — extra words, different endings, altered spelling — are not us.
- Sign-in mail comes from our domain only. A flow that asks for your address but never emails you a sign-in link is not ours.
- When in doubt, navigate yourself. Type the address rather than following a link in an email that asks you to upload a brief.
What a record never proves
A genuine record is a record of checks performed — never proof that a filing is clean, and never a substitute for attorney review, which remains required under Rule 11 and your professional rules. It does not assess whether authority supports the argument, whether authority is still good law, or what anyone intended. Dated measurements of what the checker catches live on the accuracy ledger.
Questions
- The codes on the file match each other. Is that enough?
- No. A printed code that agrees with itself is printable by anyone. The checks that matter are the ones above: the hash against the brief you hold, and the published page.
- Someone emailed me a record. Is the email real?
- Check the sender domain first, then verify independently through the steps above — never by uploading your brief through a link inside the message.
- Is this legal advice?
- No. CiteProof is software. It is not a law firm and does not create an attorney-client relationship.