Certificate Verification and Counterfeit Detection using Blockchain

Abstract

Abstract: Certificates help students not only to prove their achieved goals and milestones but also ensure that he/she maintains a high level of knowledge in that particular field. An estimated total of 25.57 crore Indian students have been enrolled for primary to higher education in 2020–21 and nearly 65 lakhs of them graduate each year. Throughout this journey, a student generates a myriad number of certificates that may include results, transcripts, degrees, diplomas, etc. A student has to submit these certificates to apply for a job or seek higher admission in any particular organization. A major problem today is manually verifying and authenticating these certificates. Many hardworking people with genuine certificates get rejected and suffer because of the lack of a system that can differentiate original certificates from fake ones. With easy access to cheap and advanced software, document forgery has become a matter of concern nowadays. This scenario demands an updated system that could not only store documents safely but also help verify and authenticate them, their issuers, and holders in a way that is much simpler, effective, and secure. Blockchain technology comes up as a solution to all these problems. Blockchain has recently emerged as a potential means for the document-authentication process and can be easily used to tackle document forgery and counterfeiting as it follows a decentralized approach. Our proposed model includes several methods such as unique hash generation, key cryptography, digital ledgers, proof of work, digital signatures, and distributed storage which has made the document-verification process easier and more secure for both the certificate-generating organization and the holder of the certificate. The SHA-256 algorithm has been used to assign a unique hash to each uploaded document which can be used to validate its authenticity. Thus, this system meets up all the criteria for a document verification system by overcoming the drawbacks and difficulties currently faced in the traditional methods of document verification.