A New Privacy-Preserving Protocol for Academic Certificates on Hyperledger Fabric

Abstract

Academic certificates are integral to an individual's education and career prospects, yet conventional paper-based certificates pose challenges with their transport and vulnerability to forgery. In response to this predicament, institutions have taken measures to release e-certificates, though ensuring authenticity remains a pressing concern. Blockchain technology, recognised for its attributes of security, transparency, and decentralisation, presents a resolution to this problem and has garnered attention from various sectors. While blockchain-based academic certificate management systems have been proposed, current systems exhibit some security and privacy limitations. To address these issues, this research proposes a new Decentralised Control Verification Privacy-Centered (DCVPC) protocol based on Hyperledger Fabric blockchain for preserving the privacy of academic certificates. The proposed protocol aims to protect academic certificates' privacy by granting complete authority over all network nodes, creating channels for universities to have their private environment, and limiting access to the ledger. The protocol is highly secure, resistant to attacks, and allows improved interoperability and automation of the certificate verification process. A proof-of-concept was developed to demonstrate the protocol's functionality and performance. The proposed protocol presents a promising solution for enhancing security, transparency, and privacy of academic certificates. It guarantees that the certificate's rightful owner is correctly identified, and the issuer is widely recognised. This research makes a valuable contribution to the area of blockchain-based academic certificate management systems by introducing a new protocol that addresses the present security and privacy limitations.