Certificate Verification Research Articles

Leveraging Internal Audit and Blockchain to Mitigate Academic Fraud and Enhance Institutional Sustainability: A General Strain Theory Perspective

Purpose: With application of general strain theory, this study investigates how internal audit function and blockchain technology can be leveraged to ensure the sustainability of higher education institutions (HEIs) by combating faculty credential fraud. Faculty members with fake credentials pose a significant threat, jeopardizing the quality of education, eroding public trust, and hindering the institution's ability to attract qualified students and faculty. Methodology: A comprehensive review of existing literature and reports related to faculty credential fraud, internal audit practices, and blockchain technology is conducted. The study considers the effectiveness of internal audit and blockchain solutions in addressing faculty credential fraud within the context of HEI sustainability. Study also provides practical solutions for the development and implementation of blockchain specifically related to HEIs and defines specific measures to be taken by internal audit function towards preventing such frauds. Findings: The study reveals that faculty credential fraud poses a significant threat to the sustainability of HEIs. When faculty lack the qualifications they claim, it undermines the quality of education students receive. This can lead to a decline in student enrollment, reputational damage, and difficulty attracting qualified students and faculty, ultimately jeopardizing the institution's long-term viability. Internal audit plays a crucial role in identifying and preventing fraudulent credential use. Blockchain technology, on the other hand, offers a secure and transparent platform for verifying faculty credentials, combating document forgery, and ensuring the qualifications of teaching and research staff. Novelty: This study offers a unique perspective by integrating internal audit and blockchain technology as a comprehensive solution to address faculty credential fraud. By implementing these tools, HEIs can significantly enhance faculty credential verification processes, improve data security, and uphold the trust and credibility of their academic staff. Practical Implications: This research suggests practical measures for HEIs. These include adopting proactive measures like enhanced credential verification procedures, data analytics for identifying inconsistencies, employee education on ethical practices, and implementing blockchain-based credential verification systems. These measures collectively contribute to a more sustainable educational environment with qualified faculty delivering quality education.

Analysis and verification of SM2 cryptographic certificates

Analysis and verification of SM2 cryptographic certificates

Implementation of blockchain-based document management system for higher education organizations

Abstract Blockchain is revolutionizing various industries, from healthcare to real estate, by making existing systems and processes transparent, secure, and efficient. New application scenarios include adopting smart contracts and decentralized frameworks in education and healthcare, which are seen as promising answers to longstanding problems such as security, credibility, and operational inefficiency. Blockchain’s decentralized and transparent nature offers a significant improvement in the handling of educational documents. Traditional verification methods for academic qualifications or credentials are cumbersome, slow, and often fraud-prone. To ensure the authenticity of academic records, blockchain provides unalterable records that are recorded on ‘the chain’ once and cannot be amended. Therefore, each transaction or update of a student’s academic history can be found and verified, thereby providing transparency and dependability throughout all stages of the verification process. Several blockchain-based educational projects have already revealed their potential. Initiatives focused on building decentralized knowledge platforms and secure digital student identity cards or resume and credentials verification networks offer hope. These platforms prevent fraud and handiness for students: all grade details are kept permanently in their hands. With blockchain, students have a comprehensive and portable record of their education, job skills, and qualifications that can be downloaded this second to potential employers or hearings. The same documents provide students with independence and mobility since their certificates are not tied to a single institution or territory. Blockchain further promotes cooperation between all stakeholders in education, like teachers making decisions, policymakers, or executives who run businesses. Through a wholly transparent and open system to all parties, Blockchain reduces the dependence on intermediaries often found in traditional process management methods, with speed and cost savings benefits. Moreover, in handling crucial information such as that held on student grades and personal details, blockchain’s secure data management provides a very real protection against unauthorized access or breaches.

THE ROLE OF BLOCKCHAIN IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM

The digital ecosystem is evolving rapidly, driven by technological advancements that enhance communication, commerce, and innovation. Originally linked to cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology is now revolutionizing numerous industries by delivering secure, transparent, and efficient systems. Its decentralized structure removes intermediaries and ensures data integrity, positioning it as a crucial element of contemporary digital infrastructures. This paper explores the core principles of blockchain, including decentralization, immutability, transparency, and smart contracts. Decentralization reduces risks associated with single points of failure, while immutability ensures data accuracy. Transparency allows for public verification of transactions, promoting accountability. Smart contracts streamline processes by automating tasks, minimizing human errors, and removing the reliance on intermediaries. Blockchain’s applications in finance, healthcare, supply chain management, and education are discussed. In finance, decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms are revolutionizing traditional services. In healthcare, blockchain improves data security and interoperability, while in supply chains, it enhances traceability and reduces costs. In education, blockchain offers secure credential verification, reducing administrative burdens. However, blockchain faces challenges, including scalability, regulatory uncertainty, and environmental concerns. High energy consumption of certain consensus mechanisms and fragmented regulatory frameworks hinder its broader adoption. Addressing these issues is crucial for blockchain’s continued growth. Looking forward, the fusion of blockchain technology with artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) is set to open up innovative possibilities for automation and efficient data management. The rise of decentralized applications (dApps) further highlights blockchain's potential to enhance security and user control over data. Blockchain provides substantial potential for driving innovation, enhancing efficiency, and ensuring transparency across multiple industries. By overcoming challenges, blockchain can drive the evolution of the digital ecosystem, creating a more secure and inclusive digital future.

Verification of initial forensic certificates through requisitions: a descriptive serial case

Verification of initial forensic certificates through requisitions: a descriptive serial case

Efektivitas Akreditasi Sekolah sebagai Upaya Meningkatkan Mutu Pendidikan

Considering that Indonesian education is currently still lagging behind many other countries. Efforts must be made immediately to improve education standards in Indonesia in order to have equal competitiveness with other countries. So that all schools must carry out accreditation as a guarantee of quality. Aims to analyze the role of school accreditation as an effective evaluation tool for improving the quality of education in Indonesia. This research is categorized into literature research which is a series of studies related to library data collection methods through various information. The National Accreditation Board for Madrasah Schools (BAN-SM) is one of the accreditation institutions in Indonesia. In general, the flow of accreditation mechanisms can be implemented through target setting, visitation, validation, verification and determination of results and accreditation certificates. Schools also carry out accreditation follow-up as evaluation material for the development of the school. There are also several challenges and obstacles to accreditation along with solutions that can be taken. Quality assurance of education is very important to ensure quality education as an effort to produce quality human resources. Therefore, it is very important to carry out school accreditation as a strategic step to maintain the quality of education that is evenly distributed throughout the country.

A Systematic Review and Multifaceted Analysis of the Integration of Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain: Shaping the Future of Australian Higher Education

This study explores the applications and implications of blockchain technology in the Australian higher education system, focusing on its integration with artificial intelligence (AI). By addressing critical challenges in credential verification, administrative efficiency, and academic integrity, this integration aims to enhance the global competitiveness of Australian higher education institutions. A comprehensive review of 25 recent research papers quantifies the benefits, challenges, and prospects of blockchain adoption in educational settings. Our findings reveal that 52% of the reviewed papers focus on systematic reviews, 28% focus on application-based studies, and 20% combine both approaches. The keyword analysis identified 287 total words, with “blockchain” and “education” as the most prominent themes. This study highlights blockchain’s potential to improve credential management, academic integrity, administrative efficiency, and funding mechanisms in education. However, challenges such as technical implementation (24%), regulatory compliance (32%), environmental concerns (28%), and data security risks (40%) must be addressed to achieve widespread adoption. This study also discusses critical prerequisites for successful blockchain integration, including infrastructure development, staff training, regulatory harmonisation, and the incorporation of AI for personalised learning. Our research concludes that blockchain, when strategically implemented and combined with AI, has the potential to transform the Australian higher education system, significantly enhancing its integrity, efficiency, and global competitiveness.

Transforming Education with Blockchain Technology: Enhancing Security, Transparency, and Credential Verification

Blockchain technology has emerged as a powerful tool for enhancing transparency, security, efficiency, and inclusivity in record-keeping, credentialing, and educational transactions in the digital age. This paper aims to highlight the potential benefits and challenges of integrating blockchain technology into educational environments, emphasizing security, transparency, and credential verification as key areas of focus. Blockchain technology offers transformative potential in the field of education, particularly in credential and certification processes, providing secure, transparent, and globally accessible solutions for verifying academic achievements and professional skills. As blockchain technology continues to evolve, further advancements and case studies specific to enhancing privacy in educational processes are expected to emerge, addressing the unique challenges and regulatory requirements associated with handling sensitive educational data. Further R&D in blockchain technology within the education sector holds promise for addressing existing challenges, unlocking new opportunities, and advancing the capabilities of educational institutions worldwide.

BRON: A blockchained framework for privacy information retrieval in human resource management

The correctness and the true validated data in Human Resource Management (HRM) are important for organizations as the data plays an impactful role in recruiting, developing, and retaining a skilled workforce. On one hand, the validated data in an organization helps in recruiting legitimate skillful employees; on the other hand, keeping the employee's data safe and maintaining privacy laws such as compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is also an organization's responsibility. Besides, transparency in human resource management operations is crucial because it promotes trust and fairness within an organization. The present HRM systems are centralized in nature and their verifiable credential system is ineffective; this leads to the intentions of internal data sabotage or internal threats. Besides, the organizations' biases also become more prominent.In this paper, we address the above-mentioned problems with a blockchain framework for HRM to utilize the privacy of data access through a Privacy Information Retrieval (PIR) process. To be specific, our proposed framework called Blockchained piR of resOurces as humaN (BRON), is the first blockchain framework to show an effective mechanism to access data from organizations globally without hampering privacy. BRON uses a generalized user registration process to use the services of data access and in the background, it uses Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) for global verification and PIR for privacy-based data retrieval. More specifically, credential verification and ZKP-based PIR are the highlights of our proposed BRON. Another interesting aspect of BRON is the use of Proof-of-Authority (PoA) to validate the anonymity and unlinkability of any HR operation. Finally, BRON has also contributed with a smart contract to incentivize the employees. BRON is very generic and easily be customizable as per the HR requirements. We run a set of experiments on BRON and observe that it is successful in providing privacy-assured data access and decentralized human resource data management. Overall, BRON provides 30% reduced latency and 35% better throughput as compared to the existing blockchain solutions in the direction of HRM.

Using QR Code and a Smartphone to Provide University of Cross River State (UNICROSS) Certificate Authentication

In the modern world, people frequently fabricate their credentials in order to secure a job or to show up where and when it is necessary. Verification is the most effective approach to identify those fraudulent certificates. Despite this, the paper verification method requires a drawn-out and time-consuming process to handle certificate verification because the certificates must be returned to the institutions who awarded them. As a result, the certificates either fail to pass verification or are delayed by the lengthy process. Hence, a certificate verification method using QR codes is developed in this study for quick verification of University of Cross River State (UNICROSS) certificate genuineness. A Smartphone and 3D Printed QR Code were employed for the enhancement of UNICROSS certificate mobile authentication services. ScanTrust anti-counterfeiting services were used to secure and host the encrypted information. Results show that our framework is effective for creating mobile authentication services with high user satisfaction rate and having reasonably low computing requirements.

Virtual lab coats: The effects of verified source information on social media post credibility.

Social media platform's lack of control over its content made way to the fundamental problem of misinformation. As users struggle with determining the truth, social media platforms should strive to empower users to make more accurate credibility judgements. A good starting point is a more accurate perception of the credibility of the message's source. Two pre-registered online experiments (N = 525;N = 590) were conducted to investigate how verified source information affects perceptions of Tweets (study 1) and generic social media posts (study 2). In both studies, participants reviewed posts by an unknown author and rated source and message credibility, as well as likelihood of sharing. Posts varied by the information provided about the account holder: (1) none, (2) the popular method of verified source identity, or (3) verified credential of the account holder (e.g., employer, role), a novel approach. The credential was either relevant to the content of the post or not. Study 1 presented the credential as a badge, whereas study 2 included the credential as both a badge and a signature. During an initial intuitive response, the effects of these cues were generally unpredictable. Yet, after explanation how to interpret the different source cues, two prevalent reasoning errors surfaced. First, participants conflated source authenticity and message credibility. Second, messages from sources with a verified credential were perceived as more credible, regardless of whether this credential was context relevant (i.e., virtual lab coat effect). These reasoning errors are particularly concerning in the context of misinformation. In sum, credential verification as tested in this paper seems ineffective in empowering users to make more accurate credibility judgements. Yet, future research could investigate alternative implementations of this promising technology.

LINKABLE RING SIGNATURES FOR BLOCKCHAIN PRIVACY PROTECTION

A numerous security vulnerabilities have emerged within the PK system. For example, a compromised CA can issue illegal or fake certificates for any domains, and a CA can issue unauthorized certificates without the consent of the domain owner. In addition, some high-value target domains, such as bank and government agencies may have been frequently attacked, and the adversaries can launch the targeted attacks by making use of the disclosure of the issuing CAs. To address these pressing issues or challenges, in this work, we propose a novel blockchain-based PKI framework using linkable ring signatures, called LRS_PKI. Specially, we propose a novel certificate issuance mechanism that utilizes linkable ring signatures to hide the issuing CA, so as to reduce the risk of the PKI system being attacked. Additionally, we introduce the blockchain as a public log to record the certificate operations, and adopt the decentralized storage IPFS to store the certificates to decouple the blockchain layer and storage layer. In order to prevent the CA from issuing unauthorized certificates, we have added a condition to verify whether the issuing CA in the certificate verification.

COST-EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT BLOCKCHAIN FRAMEWORK FOR VERIFYING CERTIFICATE IN YEMENI UNIVERSITIES

Recognizing the necessity to preserve the integrity and good name of degrees awarded by Yemeni universities. It should provide an efficient way of verifying certificates. The effectiveness of the conventional method of confirming the validity of certificates in reducing fraud has not been very strong. Therefore, it is necessary to stop this kind of fraud by using blockchain technology, which has several benefits, such as encryption, sharing of data, and the capacity to store information as permanent data that cannot be altered. Low latency and low cost will be available for the issuance, sharing, and verification of these certifications in universities if the suggested system is implemented. The paper presents the proposed framework, which uses smart contracts in the Ethereum blockchain and a distributed peer-to-peer network (filebase) for certification verification by a certificate’s hash immediately without waiting for the facility’s response. It also contains an estimate of the average cost of publishing a certificate. It also frees students from having to constantly carry paper copies of their documents by enabling them to access them via a certificate's hash. Furthermore, there is no extra cost for the verification process, and it does not require an Ethereum network account.

Revolutionizing Academic Integrity: The Emergence of Blockchain for Credential Verification - A Bibliometric Perspective

Revolutionizing Academic Integrity: The Emergence of Blockchain for Credential Verification - A Bibliometric Perspective

Expedition to the blockchain application potential for higher education institutions

In the education sector, blockchain is currently at the end of the peak of inflated expectations in Gartner’s Hype Cycle. Thus, it is crucial to understand whether this technology meets the expectations of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). We go on an expedition to identify blockchain application scenarios and its potential for HEI administration—the universities are digitalized to just 23.3%.Current information systems research addresses classifications of blockchain-based projects (application level) rather than their technical realization (protocol level). Thus, when evaluating blockchain application scenarios in HEI administration, we intensively consider the technical side of blockchain-based projects. We perform a three-step approach: (1) systematic literature review, (2) qualitative exploratory semi-structured interviews to supplement information on market-ready solutions, and (3) an evaluation of the potential of the blockchain-based projects identified, based on HEI administration requirements.We find that the leading blockchain application scenarios are credential verification and record-sharing. At the protocol level, we obtain equivocal results regarding the technical realization of projects, e.g., their underlying blockchain types and storage models. At the application level, when discussing the potential of different projects, we find that most of them address adaptability, complexity decomposition, and cost reduction requirements between HEIs; interest diversity and stakeholder collaboration between HEIs and business actors; privacy and trust between HEIs and students.

ORICERT – FRAUDULENT DEGREE AND MARKSHEET DETECTION

Identifying fake degrees and marksheets is becoming more and more important intoday's educational environment, since thespread of fake credentials jeopardizes employer confidence, academic integrity, and social standards. An overview of the most recent developments in marksheet and fraudulent degree detection techniques—including both established techniques and cutting-edge technologies—is provided Conventional techniques for identifying forged credentials frequently entail manual verification procedures, such as physical document inspection, institution verification,and cross- referencing with official databases. Although these techniques are still fundamental, they are prone to human error and frequently ineffective whenmanaging high numbers of credentials. Recent years have seen a boom intechnology advancements meant to improve the scalability and accuracy of fraudulent credential detection in response to these difficulties. For example, machine learning algorithms have demonstrated potential in automating the authentication process through the analysis of anomalies and patterns found in digital documents. Using natural language processing (NLP) techniques, textual data from academic transcripts and diplomas may be extracted and analysed to help find discrepancies or anomalies. Additionally, blockchain technology has become a disruptive force in credential verification by providing decentralized, immutable ledgers for academic accomplishments. Employers and educational institutions may reduce the danger of credential fraud by establishing safe, unchangeable archives of student Records by utilizing blockchain-based credentialing systems. Notwithstanding these developments, there are still issues with fraudulent credential detection, such as the necessity for international collaboration in the fight against cross-border credential fraud and the adaptation of fraudsters to changing detection techniques. Furthermore, the ethical implications related to algorithmic bias and data privacy emphasize how crucial it is to implement and supervise detection systems responsibly. KEYWORD: Degree Marksheet Verification Record.

A Blockchain-Based Decentralized Public Key Infrastructure Using the Web of Trust

Internet applications rely on Secure Socket Layer (SSL)/Transport Security Layer (TSL) certifications to establish secure communication. However, the centralized nature of certificate authorities (CAs) poses a risk, as malicious third parties could exploit the CA to issue fake certificates to malicious web servers, potentially compromising the privacy and integrity of user data. In this paper, we demonstrate how the utilization of decentralized certificate verification with blockchain technology can effectively address and mitigate such attacks. We present a decentralized public key infrastructure (PKI) based on a distributed trust model, e.g., Web of Trust (WoT) and blockchain technologies, to overcome vulnerabilities like single points of failure and to prevent tampering with existing certificates. In addition, our infrastructure establishes a trusted key-ring network that decouples the authentication process from CAs in order to enhance secure certificate issuance and accelerate the revocation process. Furthermore, as a proof of concept, we present the implementation of our proposed system in the Ethereum blockchain, confirming that the proposed framework meets the five identified requirements. Our experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed system in practice, albeit with additional overhead compared to conventional PKIs.

Educational Certificate Verification System: Enhancing Security and Authenticity using Ethereum Blockchain and IPFS

Educational certificate counterfeiting is a major global challenge. There is no doubt that addressing both the problem of forgery and the verification of academic certificates is a fundamental issue that deserves research, development, and support at the highest levels. This paper presents a decentralized educational certificate verification system leveraging the Ethereum blockchain and the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) to combat counterfeiting. Ropsten is used as a real-life Ethereum test network to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed system. IPFS is used to store educational certificate files on a decentralised file system. The smart contract is built in the Solidity language, compiled, and deployed using the online Remix IDE. The verification process is supported by scanning a QR code, which retrieves the validating certificate’s information from the Ethereum network in real-time.

Multi-Authority Attribute Based Keyword Search Over Encrypted Cloud Data

To guarantee data security and usability in the cloud simultaneously, Searchable Encryption (SE) is an important technique. Using Ciphertext-Policy Attribute-Based Encryption (CP-ABE), the Ciphertext-Policy Attribute-Based Keyword Search (CP-ABKS) scheme can achieve keyword-based retrieval and fine-grained access control at a time. However, the single attribute authority in existing CP-ABKS schemes is done with costly user certificate verification and secret key distribution. In addition, this results in a single-point performance bottleneck in distributed cloud systems. Thus, in this paper, we present a secure Multi-authority CP-ABKS (MABKS) system to address such limitations and minimize the computation and storage burden on resource-limited devices in cloud systems. In addition, the MABKS system is extended to support malicious attribute authority tracing and attribute update. Our meticulous security analysis shows that the MABKS system is selectively secure in both selective-matrix and selective-attribute models. Our experimental results using real-world datasets demonstrate the efficiency and utility of the MABKS system in practical applications. Keywords: Searchable encryption, attribute-based encryption, multi-authority, access control, selective-matrix model, selective-attribute model.

Implementing Blockchain For Publishing and Verifying Digital Certificates On EduTech

This study investigates the application of blockchain technology in enhancing the security and authenticity of digital certificates. Addressing key challenges such as fraud and the lack of a standardized verification process, the paper proposes a comprehensive framework aimed at fortifying the integrity of digital credentials. This framework is the utilization of blockchain as a distributed ledger, serving as a tamper-proof repository for recording certification transactions. Through this decentralized ledger, each certification issuance and verification action is securely recorded, enhancing trust and transparency in the certification process. The methodology includes the integration of a decentralized ledger for immutable record-keeping and implementation of smart contracts for automated authenticity checks, and the use of cryptographic measures to ensure data security. This approach promises significant implications for various sectors reliant on credential verification, advocating for a broader adoption of blockchain in digital certificates systems.