Educational Certificate Verification

System Using Blockchain

MASTER OF TECHNOLOGY
in
COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

by
manita dhyani
(En. No. GE-GE-08110075)
INTRODUCTION OF BLOCKCHAIN

In early 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto announced the Blockchain concept as bitcoin [1]. A distributed
ledger, or blockchain, enables for decentralised data sharing. Each block consists of a collection
of transactions, which could include bitcoin transactions, digital certificates, bills of lading, and
other types of transactions. To generate identical transaction information in the ledger, the
transaction data must be copied to all nodes. Valid transactions are updated, and a new mined
block with the longest chain is appended after intermediators review transaction details [1]. The
transactions on the blockchain are cryptographically sealed, ensuring their security.

RELATED WORK IN FIELD OF BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY

Blockchain is an electronic transaction mechanism that does not rely on trust. It demonstrates
how to resolve the issue of duplicate expenditure. To record the history of each transaction
afterwards, resolve the history of each transaction using a peer-to-peer network. If the legal goals
of the system control the bulk of CPU power, it is computationally difficult to transfer to the
invader. Nodes can join or leave the network at any time.

They vote using their CPU power, and if a majority is attained, the module is considered a valid
block to be included in the current long chain, whereas invalid blocks are not added to the
blockchain. It features decentralised and heat resistant verification properties, making it suitable
for a wide range of applications, including decentralised cryptocurrency, cross-border payments,
Blockchain Internet of Things (IoT), supply chain management, and everledger [2].

Educational certificates are important documents for students and graduates that are supplied by
educational institutions. Certificate of Education, as well as the ability to pursue higher education
and employment. Unauthorized access to critical documents such as identification cards,
certificates, and passports is possible thanks to advances in information technology and the
availability of low- and high-cost equipment. Traditional document verification is expensive, and
the lengthy human involvement approach can result in academic credential fraud [5].

Advances in information technology have made solutions for all problems such as data security,
consistency, and dependability more important than ever in recent years. During interviews and
subsequent research, the job candidate's educational credentials must be verified. Employers may
take a longer time to verify the authenticity of a certificate in some instances. Candidates may
have to wait for a lengthier period of time to receive an offer letter during this time, which takes
time away from job seekers. The goal of this research is to propose a feasible method for
issuance and verification of academic credentials using block chain technology [6].

A distributed ledger, or blockchain, is a system for storing one-of-a-kind transactions. Each

transaction is validated by different nodes.A consensus algorithm is used to finalize the
acceptance of a legal transaction. The permission-less consensus algorithm and the permission
consensus algorithm are two examples of such algorithms. Consensus algorithm There are two
types of blockchains: The first is Blockchain 1.0, which is used in applications like crypto
currency. Cryptocurrency, a public ledger, and primary data that has been copied Blockchain 2.0
is used to modify data in a decentralised manner. assets via smart contract, followed by
automated asset management It is possible to complete a transaction.
The main purpose of Blockchain 1.0 is to allow any parties to deal directly with each other in an
untrusted environment. It's tough to reverse a transaction once it's been completed. The parties
would benefit from this transaction since it would help them protect themselves from fraud.
Make sure the transaction details are the same to avoid inconsistencies in transactions. to all
participants in the ledger The blockchain is made up of blocks. The information about the current
transactions has been encrypted. Double SHA256.algorithm is used to hash the block and block
header. The Block header stores the previous block hash.The merkle root hash, time stamp,
version, and nonce are all available.
PRIVATE SMART CONTRACT

Permissioned blockchain are growing trends in business collaboration, and they can be extremely
efficient in closed networks. To conduct business transactions, private blockchain has a relatively
limited number of stakeholders. The cost of validation in public blockchain is really high. When
compared to permissioned blockchain, the energy spent on consensus procedures to complete
proof of work is significantly high. As a result, private blockchain can be efficient if the number
of nodes is small and the transaction speed is fast. The consensus process employed by private
and public blockchains will differ. Proof of work and Proof of Stake are the consensus methods
used in public blockchain. Depending on the business requirements, the following consensus
algorithms are employed in private blockchain: PAXOS, RAFT, BFT, PBFT, and RBFT. IBM
provides a development environment for blockchain for business applications in order to create a
blockchain ecosystem for business applications. Hyperledger textiles, Hyperledger composer,
Hyperledger Indy, and Hyperledger SideDB are among them [3]. Hyperledger Fabric is a
permissioned blockchain network. Those that participate in the development of Hyperledger
Fabric are referred to as members. It is the responsibility of the network's member organisation
to designate peers to participate in the network. The certificate authority certifies each peer in the
network.

PUBLIC SMART CONTRACT

Blockchain without permission does not require participation of peers' nodes; hence, smart
contracts may be installed by all peer nodes. The participants must pay a certain modest price in
order not to spam, immediately and perform smart contracts on a public blockchain. Smart
contracts are produced using bitcoin scripts for public blockchain applications which are used to
conclude contractual conditions. In numerous applications Ethereum can also be used to control
money and construct many decentralised applications. Eth is a cryptocurrency that has also been
developed at Ethereum.

ETHEREUM
Ethereum may be used in both public and private blockchains. The smart contract that executes
business logic is stored on the first blockchain. Ethereum is used to construct the majority of
smart contracts and decentralised autonomous entities. Ethereum would be the global computer
system if the Bitcoin blockchains were deemed a global payment network. Furthermore,
Ethereum is an open-source platform comparable to Google's Android [7]. It provides a platform
on which developers may build apps. Both Ethereum and those developers create and maintain
the infrastructure [4].

HYPERLEDGER
The Linux Foundation developed the Hyperledger project. Hyperledger fabric is an open
distributed ledger for commercial solutions that evolved from the Hyperledger project.
Hyperledger fabric is a closed network fabric that creates private blockchains. Business
architects create solutions for business services using Hyperledger Composer. The sideDB
database is a no-sql database that is used to store interim data.
BLOCKCHAIN-BASED CERTIFICATE CHAIN

Background

As a child grows and progresses through the stages of education, employment, and retirement, he
or she will be required to present a variety of documents in order to get entrance to school,
college, university, employer, government, and other institutions. Birth certificates, study
certificates, transfer certificates, degree certificates, income, caste, and other documents are
required almost every year for admission to educational institutions/hostels, concessions,
scholarships, and social standing reservation quotas, among other things.
The verification of the credentials provided by the candidates is one of the issues involved with
the admission process for higher education in India and abroad, as well as the selection of
applicants for jobs. Verifying the certificate's accuracy and authenticity with the appropriate
colleges or boards takes months, not to mention work and processing time. As a result, most
institutes and businesses will rely on the candidates' original documents. They must accept and
proceed even if the candidate supplied a fraudulent certificate. For many years, there has been no
satisfactory answer to this issue.
The National Informatics Centre created Certificate Chain, a Blockchain-based solution to
address this problem. Certifications are securely documented, tamper-proof, and traceable thanks
to this Certificate Chain. Anyone with a secure and confirmed internet connection can view these
certificates.

CHALLENGES

On the one hand, getting these certifications requires going from pillar to post, as some of them
have a validity period. Accepting authorities, such as educational institutions and the
government, which spend a lot of money on document verification, on the other hand, find it
difficult. Because the numbers are so large, even a small fraction of false paperwork entering the
system is cause for concern, as it could result in ineligible applications benefiting while qualified
applicants are denied.
In one case, the Karnataka Examination Authority, which conducts the Common Entrance
Examination for admission to professional colleges in Karnataka and other states, has major
difficulty validating the papers submitted by students from Karnataka and other states. Students
must submit numerous documents to claim quota, like their X Standard marks card, caste,
income, rural area certificate, and so on. The amount of effort involved in document verification
is considerable.
When kids apply for school / college entrance, scholarships, hostel admission, and so on, the
welfare organisations spend a significant amount of time confirming their claims.
PROPOSED SOLUTION

False certificates can be avoided by establishing a trustworthy environment for KEA authorities
and allowing certificate issuers to store certificate data in the block chain. All of a student's
certificate data could be stored in the blockchain in the future. Certain metadata must be
preserved in the system in order to compare electronic data. The different departments / agencies
who need to be part of the blockchain network to contribute and use these certificates are -
Municipalities / Revenue Department– The birth certificate, caste, income, rural area certificates
are issued by the revenue department and municipalities. These documents are extremely
important to citizens, and other government offices offer various benefits in exchange for their
presence.
Study certificates, transfer certificates, school completion certificates, and mark cards are all
issued by the Department of Education. Students' class data, grades, and attendance must all be
kept on the blockchain.
Departments of social welfare, tribal welfare, minority welfare, and backward classes welfare
manage hostels for needy students and award scholarships to impoverished and meritorious
students. Based on their income, grades, and caste, the blockchain system can give a list of
qualified students for scholarship / tuition savings.
Employers - As an employer, the government must examine caste, income, and educational
credentials in order to provide services. Based on their income, grades, and caste, the blockchain
system can give a list of suitable students for scholarship / tuition discounts.
Employers - In order to grant employment based on the government's reservation policy, the
government, as an employer, must assess caste, income, and educational credentials.
The government appoints committees to verify the applicant's evidence of claim materials. All
agencies will be able to check eligibility easily using blockchain data.
For older agency certifications, the student can upload the certificate metadata to the block chain,
and the appropriate departmental systems can request that the issuing agency notarize the
certificate information. Any change to the certificate details in departmental apps would result in
a blockchain transaction. Because the changes will be incorporated into the final product as well.
TECHNOLOGY USED IN CERTIFICATE CHAIN

Certificate Chain has been established using the Blockchain Technology to record the
educational certificates of various boards, by linking them like a chain. Certificate Chain records
the certificates in a distributed manner in multiple locations. Certificates in this chain are
secured, tamper proof and immutable. Attempt to tamper the data is not possible as all the
distributed locations need to be updated as per the agreement to synchronise the data between
them.
FEATURES OF CERTIFICATE CHAIN

Certificate Chain records the certificates in the shared/distributed manner with all the
participating stakeholders. The certificates are recorded in the chain based on the consensus
between the stakeholders. This eliminates the need for dependency on the third party. The
certificates are linked and stored with cryptographic security so that they are immutable and
traceable. The linking of the blocks in the blockchain ensures that they cannot be tampered with.
The certificates are trustable as they can be verified across the participating stakeholders.

● Secured
● Trusted
● Immutable
● Traceable
● Verifiable
BENEFITS OF CERTIFICATE CHAIN

Benefits
Facilitating the student, Education institutions, Government and Non-Government agencies to
have access to tamperproof records of certificate details. This system will reduce the errors in
manual verification of the document. The process of preparing the eligibility list would be
simplified and automated due to the availability of all necessary data from a single source. The
establishment of the certificate chain will change the way the Government processes applications
for admission, recruitment, scholarships, social security pensions and various other government
initiatives . This system could pave the way for entitlement based service delivery.

Certificate Chain provides the trustable, immutable and traceable certificates. It can be used by
the various educational institutes for admission for higher studies and companies for job offers. It
can also be used for the online counselling by the institutes. The financial institutes can also use
this system for sanctioning of educational loans and other loans based on the qualification of the
applicants.

● Transparent
● Tamper Proof
● Paperless
● No dependency on third party
USERS OF CERTIFICATE CHAIN

Certificate Chain provides the mechanism for the educational institutes and companies to verify
online the details of the claims of the applicants, who apply for the higher education or job. It
also helps in the counseling process, by integrating the systems with plug-in interfaces. This
certificate chain aims to provide the educational certificate details of various boards and
universities in the coming days. Thus, eliminating the need to depend upon the third party to
carry out the verification. It also drastically saves the time for verification and promotes
paperless verification.

● Students
● Educational Institutes
● Job Providers
● Financial Institutes
PROCESS

The digital certificates issuance process in the system is as follows. In the first step, utilise
double SHA256 to create the hash value for the certificate. As a transaction in the block, save the
fixed length hash value. Blockchain members are checking this transaction and if it's deemed to
be valid, add the block to the existing blockchain. To accept and reject suggestions, the use of a
consensus algorithm[8] is used.The amount of nodes and transactions might have an impact on
the consensus algorithm. A QR code and an inquiry string code will be generated by the system
and printed on the hardcopy certificate [11]. The gadget can validate the legitimacy of a
hardcopy certificate using a phone scanner or a website [9]. Thanks to the immutability of the
distributed ledger, the system not only examines certificates, but also maintains them in digital
form for the rest of their lives [10].
CONCLUSION
Blockchain applications are distinguished by their transparency and data immutability. It is a
distributed ledger in which nodes in the network validate and reach a final consensus to add data
to the network. The process of generating academic certificates is open and dispersed among
parties, and any organisation or party can use this blockchain system to check the information of
any academic certificate. The Ethereum blockchain guarantees the encryption of data kept on the
blockchain network, so that only the certificate owner will be able to see and distribute this data
as they desire. In conclusion, university institutions may work with other employers and
disseminate blockchain credentials to remove false education certificates.
REFERENCES

[1] S. Nakamoto, Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, 2008;

bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf.
[2]. “Hyperledger project,” [online] Available: https://www.hyperledger.org/ [Accessed on
5.07.2019 ]
[3]. IBM Blockchain based on Hyperledger Fabric from the Linux Foundation. Available
from https://www.ibm.com/blockchain/hyperledger.html.
[4]. Nachiappan Michael Crosby, Pradan Pattanayak, Sanjeev Verma, Vignesh Kalyanaraman,
"BlockChain Technology: Beyond Bitcoin", Applied Innovation Review, no. 2, Jun.
2016.
[5]. Tarek Kanan, Ahamd Turki Obaidat, Majduleen Al-Lahham, "SmartCert BlockChain
Imperative for Educational Certificates", Electrical Engineering and Information
Technology (JEEIT) 2019 IEEE Jordan International Joint Conference on, pp. 629-633,
2019.
[6]. Marco Baldi, Franco Chiaraluce, Emanuele Frontoni, Guiseppe Gottardi, “Certificate
Validation through Public Ledgers and Blockchains,”In Proceedings of the First Italian
Conference on Cybersecurity (ITASEC17), Venice, Italy.
[7]. Jiin-Chiou, Narn-Yih Lee, Chien Chi, YI-Hua Chen, “Blockchain and Smart Contract for
Digital Certificate,”Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Applied
SystemInnovation 2017.
[8]. Xiuping Lin, “Semi-centralized Blockchain Smart Contracts: Centralized Verification and
Smart Computing under Chains in the Ethereum Blockchain,”Department of Information
Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, R.O.C., 2017.
[9]. [online]Available: https://www.blockcerts.org.
[10]. Dinesh Kumar K, Komathy K, Manoj Kumar D.S , “Blockchain Technologies in
financial sectors and industries”, International Journal of Scientific and Technology
Research Volume 8, Issue 11, pp. 942 -946, 2019.
[11]. Benyuan He, “An Empirical Study of Online Shopping Using Blockchain Technology”,
Department of Distribution Management, Takming University of Science and
Technology, Taiwan, R.O.C., 2017.
[12]. Karuppanan Komathy. (2018). Verifiable and Authentic Distributed Blockchain Shipping
Framework for Smart Connected Ships. Journal of Computational and Theoretical
Nanoscience. 15. 3275-3281. 10.1166/jctn.2018.7610
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