SuperCert : Digital Certification
Blockchain can be considered a subset of distributed ledger technology in which multiple transactions are stored in ‘blocks’ and cryptographically linked to the previous block by a ‘chain’.
The Blockchain concept was proposed as bitcoin by Satoshi Nakamoto in early 2008. Each block contains a set of transactions. These transactions could be cryptocurrency transaction, digital certificate, bill of lading etc. The transaction data should be replicated to all the nodes to form identical transaction details in ledger. The transaction details are validated by intermediators, thereafter the valid transactions are updated and a new mined block will be appended with the longest chain. Blockchain transactions are cryptographically sealed which ensure security.
Blockchain is a system that does not rely on the trust for electronic transactions. It shows how the problem of double spending can end. Resolve the history of each transaction using a peer-to-peer network to record the history of each transaction later. It is computationally impossible to transfer to the intruder if the legitimate ends of the system control the majority of CPU power. Nodes can join or exit the network whenever needed. They vote with their CPU power and when the majority is achieved, the module is considered a valid block included in the current long chain and the invalid blocks are not appended with blockchain. It has the characteristic of decentralized and tamper resistant verification such that it has numerous applications such as decentralized cryptocurrencies, cross border payments, blockchain Internet of Things (IoT), supply chain management and everledger etc.
The students achievements available in the form of degree certificate, mark sheet, value added certificate, etc. will become an important weightage for recruitment or higher studies. The education institution awards and degree certificates may have only the names of the institution and the student’s data. In this scenario there is a lack of effective anti-forge mechanism. Due to this many times the graduation certificate to be forged often is found. To solve the problem of fake certificates the blockchain technology would store the certificate in digital form. The immutability nature of blockchain makes digital certificates in the distributed ledger very difficult to tamper or modify also it is very easy to verify the originality of digital certificates.
Blockchain may serve as a valuable platform to achieve the proposed targets due to the inherent features it would help deploy.
The blockchain-based SuperCert promises anti-fraud identity intelligence blockchain solutions for educational certificates. The immutability feature of blockchain ensures that tampering of certificates is not feasible — both the content of the certificate and the identity of the certificate holder.
‘Certificates’ are a means of verifying the credentials of individuals across domains and geographies. A paper-based certification is fallible to manipulation and susceptible to fraud. According to a report by first advantage, a background screening company, there are more than 7,500 organisations that provide fake employment and educational certificates. There are usually two problems at play: degrees from fake universities and fake degrees from real universities.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) has been acting on several of these complaints and frequently blacklists universities and organisations. However scrupulous agencies keep mushrooming up. The problem has a tangible cost companies spending a significant amount of money to verify the credentials of prospective employees; cumbersome and time consuming process for students planning to pursue further studies both in India or abroad.
To address the problem several institutes have moved to digital methods of certifications. However, the current system of digital certification, digital signatures and certificates rely on a set of trusted third parties. This process is also susceptible to fraud and malicious attacks — as seen in the 2018 case of CEO of CA Trustico mailing the private keys of 23,000 certificates, forcing the Root CA to invalidate the certificates.
Fraud in educational certificates
- Identity Misrepresentation Student Impersonation
Statistics reveal that in India, a paper certificate that looks exactly like the original can come for as less as Rs 2,000.
2. Identity Misrepresentation University Impersonation
The University Grants Commission (UGC) frequently releases lists of universities blacklisted for issuing fake degrees.
3. Document Tampering Forgery & Fraud
From numbers to grades to name tampering, verifiers and universities spend time and money to tell an original from a fake.
Current challenges Existing solutions of educational certificates verification have the following challenges:
i. Centralized i.e. completely dependent on certificate issuing authority
ii. Manual i.e. verification is usually done through emails, phone calls or web forms
iii. Time consuming — could take weeks or months
iv. Easy to breach and tamper
There is thus the need for a decentralized trust system that is verifiable,tamper-proof, automatic, real-time and fraud-proof.
Leveraging blockchain for educational certificates
Indian School of Business (ISB) and Bitgram, attempted to address the challenges in educational certificates through a blockchain based solution. SuperCert, has a permissioned blockchain architecture that involves decentralization, intelligent identity encryption and identity interlinking for issuance of educational certificates.
The process involved:
i. Creation of student identity — Superidentity. A unique blockchain representation of the identity is provided, along with a set of public and private keys.
ii. Issuance of certificate by university, together with Superidentity of the student.
iii. SuperCert i.e. creation of a block of student certificate — hashed version of the certificate on the blockchain
iv. Verification of the certificate using the public key of the student and the public key of the university. The solutions have features for both online and offline verification.
The key features of SuperCert include:
i. Data privacy: data stays with the entities that own them.
ii. Real-time, automated verification from anywhere in the world.
iii. Tamper and fraud resistant
iv. Permanence: the certificates will survive beyond organisations — removes dependence on the issuing authority for future verification
v. Scalable to national and global level
Verification process for SuperCert
The process of issuing digital certificates in the system is as follows:
- Generate the hash value for the certificate using double SHA256.
- Store the fixed length hash value as a transaction in the block. This transaction is validated by the members in the blockchain, once it is trusted as a valid transaction then the block is added with existing blockchain.
- Accepting and rejecting will be done using consensus algorithms . The consensus algorithm may be chosen based on number of nodes, and transactions. The system will generate the related QR code and inquiry string code to affix in the hard copy certificate .
- The system provides the unit to authenticate the hard copy certificate through phone scanner or website. The immutability nature of the distributed ledger, the system provides not only verification of certificate and also it stores the certificate in digital form forever.
Conclusion
Transparency and data immutability are the main features of blockchain applications. It is a distributed ledger where nodes in the network validate and make final consensus to add the data in the network. The process of academic certificate generation is open and distributed among the parties where any organization or parties can verify information of any academic certificate using this blockchain system. The Ethereum blockchain also ensures data stored on the blockchain network is encrypted, therefore only the certificate owner can see and share this data as they wish. Academic institutions are able to collaborate with other employers and publish credentials on the blockchain to eradicate fake educational certificates.
