DEFONEOS-SEAL — Certification Specification v1.0

1 · Why DEFONEOS-SEAL exists

The market for sovereign-AI deployment is missing a credential that:

1. Is independent of any single regulator's jurisdiction (works across UK / EU / US / AUKUS).
2. Is cryptographically verifiable by any third party without DEFONEOS involvement.
3. Is continuously attested, not point-in-time certified.
4. Cross-walks multiple regulatory regimes so a buyer can satisfy several obligations with one SEAL.
5. Has no commercial bias — the BFT council that issues the SEAL includes independent members.

DEFONEOS-SEAL fills this gap. It is the credential a sovereign-AI deployer carries to prove to a UK MOD procurement officer, an EU AI Office auditor, a US AISI evaluator, and a Singapore AI Verify assessor that the system is independently attested against a multi-regime standard.

2 · The 6 SEAL tiers

3 · Issuance workflow (8 steps)

1. Application — applicant submits via csoai.org/seal/apply, pays issuance fee, provides: AI-BOM, Model Card, Data Card, System Card, PMS plan, incident record, audit reports, jurisdictional addenda. SLA acknowledgement within 2 BD.
2. Completeness check — DEFONEOS compliance team verifies all required artefacts within 5 BD; applicant notified of gaps.
3. 33-agent BFT council pre-vote — council confirms tier eligibility (Bronze/Silver/Gold/Sovereign) based on artefacts; if rejected, refund minus admin fee.
4. Independent red team (Gold+) — DEFONEOS assigns 1 of 5 named red-team partners; 15-day window for adversarial testing.
5. Full evidence pack assembly — compliance team assembles evidence pack: AI-BOM + cards + PMS + incident record + audit + red team report + jurisdiction addenda. SIGIL-anchored.
6. 33-agent BFT council vote — ≥23/33 quorum. Vote options: approve / amend (with named changes) / reject. SLA: 5 BD.
7. SEAL issuance — on approve, Ed25519 SIGIL-anchored SEAL JSON issued; published to csoai.org/seal/directory (except Defence); applicant notified.
8. Continuous monitoring + annual re-attestation — once issued, SEAL holder enters continuous monitoring (PMS attestations monthly + advisory feed subscription + 33-agent quarterly check); annual re-attestation at month 11.

Total SLA: 45 BD from complete application to SEAL issuance. Most SEALs issue within 30 BD.

4 · The SEAL receipt (the cryptographic artefact)

{
  "seal_id": "SEAL-SOVEREIGN-MEGACORP-2026-07-14",
  "seal_version": "1.0",
  "issued_to": "MegaCorp Defence Ltd",
  "tier": "sovereign",
  "system_name": "MegaCorp Sovereign Compliance Decision Support",
  "system_version": "v3.2.1",
  "issued_at": "2026-07-14T...",
  "valid_until": "2027-07-14T...",
  "bft_council_vote": {
    "round_id": "BFT-2026-07-1247",
    "vote_record": "28-approve / 5-amend / 0-reject",
    "quorum": 25,
    "voter_ids_hash": "sha256:..."
  },
  "cross_walk": {
    "iso_42001": "conformant",
    "eu_ai_act": "Art-9-15 attested · Art-13 attested · Art-14 attested · Art-15 attested",
    "uk_aisi": "voluntary commitment filed 2026-06",
    "eu_cra": "Annex I §13 attested",
    "nist_ai_rmf": "GOVERN+MAP+MEASURE+MANAGE all GREEN",
    "singapore_ai_verify": "11/11 fairness metrics attested",
    "ieee_7000": "Ethically Aligned Design v1 attested",
    "bsi_pas_1885": "Algorithmic Transparency standard attested",
    "iso_27001": "cert #GB-2026-12345 valid until 2027-09"
  },
  "evidence_pack_sha256": "sha256:abc123...",
  "evidence_pack_url": "csoai.org/seal/evidence/SEAL-SOVEREIGN-MEGACORP-2026-07-14",
  "public_verification_url": "csoai.org/seal/verify/SEAL-SOVEREIGN-MEGACORP-2026-07-14",
  "revocation_status": "active",
  "monitoring_status": "continuous · 33-agent quarterly review scheduled 2026-09-30",
  "ed25519_sig": "..."
}

5 · Public verification (the 30-second trust root)

Any third party (procurement officer, regulator, customer, journalist) can verify a SEAL in <30 seconds:

1. Get the SEAL ID — from the applicant's marketing site / contract / advisory feed.
2. Visit csoai.org/seal/verify/{seal_id}
3. Read the public record: tier, scope, validity dates, BFT vote, cross-walk status, revocation status.
4. Optional: download the evidence pack (SIGIL-verified) for deep review.

Public verification returns the full record above, plus the cryptographic proof chain. No DEFONEOS account required; no API key needed; rate-limited at 100 req/min/IP to prevent abuse.

6 · Revocation (the 7 triggers)

A SEAL may be revoked on any of 7 named triggers. Revocation is immediate, public, and SIGIL-anchored.

1. Material misrepresentation in the application — discovered post-issuance
2. Continuous monitoring failure — 2 consecutive months of PMS attestation failure
3. Critical security incident — P1 with root cause traceable to governance failure
4. Loss of jurisdictional authorisation — e.g. EU CRA conformity withdrawal
5. Ownership change — without re-attestation within 30 days
6. Material change of system — without BFT re-vote
7. Holder-requested surrender — holder initiates

Revoked SEALs move from csoai.org/seal/directory to csoai.org/seal/revoked with the trigger named. Re-application permitted after 12 months + named remediation.

7 · Cross-walked regimes (the 9)

8 · The 33-agent BFT council (the issuance authority)

The 33-agent BFT council is the independent issuance authority. It is composed of:

• 12 named Sovereign Generals — permanent council members from sovereign backgrounds (named publicly at csoai.org/seal/council)
• 10 elected industry Generals — elected annually from DEFONEOS buyers + ecosystem partners
• 5 independent Generals — academics / former regulators / civil society (named)
• 4 rotating Generals — drawn from buyer's industry for sector-specific SEALs
• 2 named DEFONEOS Generals — CEO + CISO (cannot be the sole voter on own SEAL)

No DEFONEOS General can single-handedly issue a SEAL. ≥23/33 quorum required; ≥1 independent General must vote approve; ≥1 Sovereign General must vote approve.

9 · Anti-reputation-attack design (5 mechanisms)

1. Cryptographic verification — only the public root key at csoai.org/seal/root can issue valid SEALs
2. Tamper-evident log — every issuance + revocation on immutable SIGIL chain
3. Independent council — 31 of 33 voters are non-DEFONEOS
4. Cross-walk to accredited bodies — DEFONEOS cannot self-certify against ISO 42001 / 27k; only cross-walk
5. Revocation transparency — revoked SEALs public with named trigger

10 · Cross-walk to existing DEFONEOS artefacts

11 · The 5 Anti-Patterns (Certification Disasters We Refuse)

1. No "self-certification without independent review." ≥23/33 BFT vote · ≥1 independent General · ≥1 Sovereign General.
2. No "point-in-time cert without continuous monitoring." Continuous monitoring + annual re-attestation mandatory.
3. No "vendor issues their own seal." 31 of 33 voters are non-DEFONEOS.
4. No "secretive revocation." Revoked SEALs public with named trigger.
5. No "no cross-walk to accredited bodies." ISO 42001 / 27k cross-walk only, never self-issued.

12 · Applicant Next Steps

1. Verify this spec hash: curl https://csoai.org/defoneos-mod-seal-certification-spec.html | shasum -a 256
2. Open the application form: csoai.org/seal/apply
3. Verify any issued SEAL: csoai.org/seal/verify/{seal_id}
4. Browse the directory: csoai.org/seal/directory
5. Browse revoked SEALs: csoai.org/seal/revoked
6. Schedule a 60-minute walkthrough with the BFT Council Chair.
7. Inspect council composition: csoai.org/seal/council