Imagine you want to prove that you’ve been somewhere. Insurance adjustors, salespeople and security guards could all fit into this category. The GPS chips built into most modern phones could easily do the job. Another route would be to log the communications between a phone and nearby cell towers. The trouble is, both of these methods can be “spoofed” with devices that cost a few dollars on eBay. Meanwhile, most workers are uncomfortable (to put it mildly) with the idea of their employers watching their every move.

In 2012, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security gave UAB computer scientist Ragib Hasan, Ph.D., a $583,000 grant to find a solution. This past December, Hasan, director of the UAB SECuRE and Trustworthy Computing Lab (SECRETLab) and an assistant professor in the UAB College of Arts and Sciences Department of Computer and Information Sciences, unveiled his answer at the 2014 Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Showcase in Washington, D.C. It’s called WORAL, or Witness Oriented Asserted Location Provenance.