diff --git a/swarm/storage/resource.go b/swarm/storage/resource.go
index 590f4ba03b..63c497c280 100644
--- a/swarm/storage/resource.go
+++ b/swarm/storage/resource.go
@@ -40,10 +40,6 @@ type resource struct {
 // The update scheme is built on swarm chunks with chunk keys following
 // a predictable, versionable pattern.
 //
-// The data of the chunk contains the content hash of the version in question.
-// In order to be valid, the hash is signed by the owner of the ENS record
-// of the mutable resource.
-//
 // Updates are defined to be periodic in nature, where periods are
 // expressed in terms of number of blocks.
 //
@@ -56,7 +52,7 @@ type resource struct {
 
 // The root entry tells the requester from when the mutable resource was
 // first added (block number) and in which block number to look for the
-// actual updates. Thus, a resource update for identifier "foo.bar"
+// actual updates. Thus, a resource update for identifier "føø.bar"
 // starting at block 4200 with frequency 42 will have updates on block 4242,
 // 4284, 4326 and so on.
 //
@@ -66,27 +62,28 @@ type resource struct {
 //
 // Note that the root entry is not required for the resource update scheme to
 // work. A normal chunk of the blocknumber/frequency data can also be created,
-// and pointed to by an actual ENS entry (or manifest entry) instead.
+// and pointed to by an external resource (ENS or manifest entry)
 //
 // Actual data updates are also made in the form of swarm chunks. The keys
 // of the updates are the hash of a concatenation of properties as follows:
 //
-// sha256(namehash|blocknumber|version)
+// sha256(namehash|period|version)
 //
-// The blocknumber here is the next block period after the current block
-// calculated from the start block and frequency of the resource update.
-// Using our previous example, this means that an update made at block 4285,
-// and even 4284, will have 4326 as the block number.
+// The period is (currentblock - startblock) / frequency
+//
+// Using our previous example, this means that a period 3 will have 4326 as
+// the block number.
 //
 // If more than one update is made to the same block number, incremental
 // version numbers are used successively.
 //
 // A lookup agent need only know the identifier name in order to get the versions
 //
-// the data itself is prefixed with a signed hash of the data. The sigining key
-// is used to verify the authenticity of the update, for example by looking
-// up the ownership of the namehash in ENS and comparing to the address derived
-// from it
+// the chunk data is: sign(resourcedata)|resourcedata
+// the resourcedata is: headerlength|period|version|name|data
+//
+// headerlength is a 16 bit value containing the byte length of period|version|name
+// period and version are both 32 bit values. name can have arbitrary length
 //
 // NOTE: the following is yet to be implemented
 // The resource update chunks will be stored in the swarm, but receive special
@@ -94,8 +91,6 @@ type resource struct {
 // stored using a separate store, and forwarding/syncing protocols carry per-chunk
 // flags to tell whether the chunk can be validated or not; if not it is to be
 // treated as a resource update chunk.
-//
-// TODO: signature validation
 type ResourceHandler interface {
 	ChunkStore
 	NewResource(name string, frequency uint64) (*resource, error)
diff --git a/swarm/storage/resource_ens.go b/swarm/storage/resource_ens.go
index 8b0738b3c3..d13e663e1e 100644
--- a/swarm/storage/resource_ens.go
+++ b/swarm/storage/resource_ens.go
@@ -2,24 +2,31 @@ package storage
 
 import (
 	"crypto/ecdsa"
+	"fmt"
 
 	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/accounts/abi/bind"
 	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/common"
 	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/contracts/ens"
-	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/ethclient"
+	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/crypto"
 	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/rpc"
 )
 
+// Implements Mutable Resources as offchain ENS resolvers
+//
+// The data part of the update is forced to be a valid ENS content hash
+//
+// Also, the ENSResourceHandler only allows creation and update of
+// Resources from the ENS owner's address
+//
 type ENSResourceHandler struct {
-	ResourceHandler
-	ethapi *ethclient.Client
+	*RawResourceHandler
+	addr   common.Address
 	ensapi *ens.ENS
 }
 
-func NewENSResourceHandler(privKey *ecdsa.PrivateKey, datadir string, cloudStore CloudStore, rpcClient *rpc.Client, ensAddr common.Address) (*ENSResourceHandler, error) {
+func NewENSResourceHandler(privKey *ecdsa.PrivateKey, datadir string, cloudStore CloudStore, rpcClient *rpc.Client, backend bind.ContractBackend, ensAddr common.Address) (*ENSResourceHandler, error) {
 	transactOpts := bind.NewKeyedTransactor(privKey)
-	ethapi := ethclient.NewClient(rpcClient)
-	ensinstance, err := ens.NewENS(transactOpts, ensAddr, ethapi)
+	ensinstance, err := ens.NewENS(transactOpts, ensAddr, backend)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -32,8 +39,19 @@ func NewENSResourceHandler(privKey *ecdsa.PrivateKey, datadir string, cloudStore
 	}
 
 	return &ENSResourceHandler{
-		ResourceHandler: rh,
-		ethapi:          ethclient.NewClient(rpcClient),
-		ensapi:          ensinstance,
+		RawResourceHandler: rh,
+		addr:               crypto.PubkeyToAddress(privKey.PublicKey),
+		ensapi:             ensinstance,
 	}, nil
 }
+
+func (self *ENSResourceHandler) NewResource(name string, frequency uint64) (*resource, error) {
+	owneraddr, err := self.ensapi.Owner(self.RawResourceHandler.nameHashFunc(name))
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("ENS error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if owneraddr != self.addr {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("not owner")
+	}
+	return self.RawResourceHandler.NewResource(name, frequency)
+}
diff --git a/swarm/storage/resource_test.go b/swarm/storage/resource_test.go
index 585cd71936..f72188254b 100644
--- a/swarm/storage/resource_test.go
+++ b/swarm/storage/resource_test.go
@@ -41,6 +41,8 @@ func init() {
 	log.Root().SetHandler(log.CallerFileHandler(log.LvlFilterHandler(log.LvlTrace, log.StreamHandler(os.Stderr, log.TerminalFormat(true)))))
 }
 
+// simulated backend does not have the blocknumber call
+// so we use this wrapper to fake returning the block count
 type fakeBackend struct {
 	*backends.SimulatedBackend
 	blocknumber uint64
@@ -317,14 +319,21 @@ func TestResourceHandler(t *testing.T) {
 
 }
 
-func TestResourceENS(t *testing.T) {
+func TestResourceENSNew(t *testing.T) {
 
-	// privkey for signing updates
+	// privkey for ens owner
 	privkey, err := crypto.GenerateKey()
 	if err != nil {
 		return
 	}
 
+	// privkey for signing updates
+	privkeytwo, err := crypto.GenerateKey()
+	if err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+
+	// set up ENS sim
 	domainparts := strings.Split(domainName, ".")
 	addr, contractbackend, err := setupENS(privkey, domainparts[0], domainparts[1])
 	if err != nil {
@@ -336,14 +345,31 @@ func TestResourceENS(t *testing.T) {
 		teardownTest(t, err)
 	}
 
+	// create new resource when we are owner = ok
 	_, err = rh.NewResource(domainName, 42)
 	if err != nil {
 		teardownTest(t, err)
 	}
 
+	// create new resource when we are NOT owner = !ok
+	rawrh := rh.(*ENSResourceHandler)
+	rawrh.privKey = privkeytwo
+	rawrh.addr = crypto.PubkeyToAddress(privkeytwo.PublicKey)
+	_, err = rawrh.NewResource(domainName, 42)
+	if err == nil {
+		teardownTest(t, fmt.Errorf("Expected resource create fail due to owner mismatch"))
+	}
+
 	teardownTest(t, nil)
 }
 
+// fast-forward blockheight
+func fwdBlocks(count int, backend *fakeBackend) {
+	for i := 0; i < count; i++ {
+		backend.Commit()
+	}
+}
+
 func setupTest(privkey *ecdsa.PrivateKey, contractbackend bind.ContractBackend, ensaddr common.Address) (rh ResourceHandler, datadir string, err error, teardown func(*testing.T, error)) {
 
 	var fsClean func()
@@ -394,8 +420,9 @@ func setupTest(privkey *ecdsa.PrivateKey, contractbackend bind.ContractBackend,
 		return
 	}
 
+	// choose if with ens or not
 	if ensaddr != zeroAddr {
-		rh, err = NewENSResourceHandler(privkey, datadir, &testCloudStore{}, rpcclient, ensaddr)
+		rh, err = NewENSResourceHandler(privkey, datadir, &testCloudStore{}, rpcclient, contractbackend, ensaddr)
 	} else {
 		rh, err = NewRawResourceHandler(privkey, datadir, &testCloudStore{}, rpcclient, nil)
 	}
@@ -408,7 +435,11 @@ func setupTest(privkey *ecdsa.PrivateKey, contractbackend bind.ContractBackend,
 
 	return
 }
+
+// Set up simulated ENS backend for use with ENSResourceHandler tests
 func setupENS(privkey *ecdsa.PrivateKey, sub string, top string) (common.Address, bind.ContractBackend, error) {
+
+	// create the domain hash values to pass to the ENS contract methods
 	var tophash [32]byte
 	var subhash [32]byte
 	hashfunc.Reset()
@@ -417,17 +448,22 @@ func setupENS(privkey *ecdsa.PrivateKey, sub string, top string) (common.Address
 	hashfunc.Reset()
 	hashfunc.Write([]byte(sub))
 	copy(subhash[:], hashfunc.Sum(nil))
+
+	// private key -> address is owner of domain
 	addr := crypto.PubkeyToAddress(privkey.PublicKey)
+
+	// initialize contract backend and deploy
+	transactOpts := bind.NewKeyedTransactor(privkey)
 	contractBackend := &fakeBackend{
 		SimulatedBackend: backends.NewSimulatedBackend(core.GenesisAlloc{addr: {Balance: big.NewInt(1000000000)}}),
 	}
-	transactOpts := bind.NewKeyedTransactor(privkey)
 
 	ensAddr, _, ensinstance, err := contract.DeployENS(transactOpts, contractBackend)
 	if err != nil {
 		return zeroAddr, nil, fmt.Errorf("can't deploy: %v", err)
 	}
 
+	// update the registry for the correct owner address
 	if _, err = ensinstance.SetOwner(transactOpts, [32]byte{}, addr); err != nil {
 		return zeroAddr, nil, fmt.Errorf("can't setowner: %v", err)
 	}
@@ -443,13 +479,6 @@ func setupENS(privkey *ecdsa.PrivateKey, sub string, top string) (common.Address
 	}
 	contractBackend.Commit()
 
-	nodeowner, err := ensinstance.Owner(&bind.CallOpts{}, ens.EnsNode(strings.Join([]string{sub, top}, ".")))
-	if err != nil {
-		return zeroAddr, nil, fmt.Errorf("can't retrieve owner: %v", err)
-	} else if !bytes.Equal(nodeowner.Bytes(), addr.Bytes()) {
-		return zeroAddr, nil, fmt.Errorf("retrieved owner doesn't match; expected '%x', got '%x'", addr, nodeowner)
-	}
-
 	return ensAddr, contractBackend, nil
 }