Why Use Blockchain Technology For Document Certification?

Certificates are an indelible part of human life. They are issued at birth, through all of your life’s events—like graduation, training, and property ownership—till you draw your last breath. As such, their importance can be stressed enough. However, these instruments are being plagued with issues, such as duplications, unwarranted alterations, and fake issuance.

This makes it incredibly difficult to trust an issued certificate, even though its primary purpose was to be accepted as a standardized means of information authentication. However, companies can adopt blockchain technology to issue digital certificates and maintain the authenticity of document digital. But before we get into the intricacies of using blockchain for document certification, let’s understand what makes the current system susceptible to fraudsters.

Why is the Current Certificate Generation Process Easy to Manipulate?

To understand the reason behind the current certificate generation’s susceptibility, let’s understand the process in brief.

The process begins when the issuer issues a certificate manually or digitally. Post issuance, they share the certificate physically or send them via unmonitored channels, like emails. Now, if the certificate is ever presented for authentication, the verifying authorities either approve it at a glance or invest significant time, effort, and resources to verify it.

Basically, they reach out to the issuing authority (mentioned on the certificate). This can be done through physical means (although this is becoming uncommon, given the costs, time, and effort involved) or digital means (like emails). Sometimes, the verifier might even call the issuing authority at the given number thinking it official.

The problem with this song-and-dance is it takes a lot of time and is often deemed unnecessary by verifiers. After all, who has the time to track the issuing authority, personally reach out to them, and wait for their reply? Another key issue is that even if some verifiers resolve to see this through, they have no other option but to believe the issuer’s words. But this isn’t the issue. The problem is that the issuer could be lying, manipulated, or be a fake authority. So, the verifier won’t know either way.

Additionally, this process is exhausting. Imagine having to do this for one certificate. Now, imagine doing this for hundreds (possibly thousands) of certificates that were shared with you. In fact, going through the entire process might sometimes yield the same result as ignoring the verification process since holograms, stamps, and signatures are easy to forge.

Further, the certificates need to be stored, managed, and sorted manually. This doesn’t just open doors for minor errors but also gives way to data loss and damage.

Enter blockchain-based digital certificates.

What is a Digital Certificate?

A blockchain-based digital certificate is similar to a regular digital certificate. However, there’s a significant difference: the former is issued using blockchain technology. Additionally, it follows the rules laid down by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C): Verifiable Credentials Data Model 1.0. 

This model states that verifiable credentials must be tamper-proof, verifiable by machines, and should employ privacy-enhancing technologies like decentralized identifiers (DIDs) to protect the privacy of the certificate holder.

Moreover, they can’t be issued by just anyone with a reliable internet connection and blockchain knowledge. They can only be issued by authorized issuers. Even then, the issuer must use their private keys for applying cryptographic digital signature certificate and authorize its validity.

Why Should Organizations Use Blockchain for Document Certification?

Wondering what blockchain’s role is in all this, besides helping companies issue digital certificates using the decentralized technology? Well, here are the reasons why organizations should use blockchain for document certification:

• Security: The biggest advantage of blockchain is the security it affords the issued certificates through cryptography.
• Decentralization: Being a decentralized technology, blockchain eliminates meddling third parties, promoting trust in the network and giving holders ultimate control over their certificates.
• Tamper-proof: Besides following the directives laid by the W3C, blockchain makes the issued certificates tamper-proof. This means that they can’t be altered by anyone, not even the issuer, and enhances certificate security.
• Transparent: Verifiable credentials are stored on a blockchain network and are transparent by nature. Simply put, the issuer, holder, and verifier can access the certificate and keep track of the document’s history—who issued the certificate, who viewed it, when it was viewed, and more.
• Instant verification: The issued certificates can be easily verified against their unique hash code.
• 24/7 access: The certificates can be accessed anytime, anywhere. You just need a stable internet connection and must be authorized to access the digital document.
• Cost-efficient: Blockchain makes the issuance, sharing, and verification process seamless. Removes third party solution providers, and the need for manual storage and management of the document. This leads to cost savings for an organization.

Given the list of advantages, you might be itching to know the certificate issuance and verification process. Let’s pull back the curtains and give you a BTS (behind-the-scenes) sneak-peek.

How Does Blockchain Help Issue and Verify Digital Certificates?

The process for certificate issuance and verification is as follows:

• Certificate issuance: The certificate issuance process is kickstarted by the issuer. They need to define the template, mention the fields they’d like to be customized, share the relevant data file, and wait for the certificate to get issued. This is what you’ll be an active participant in. What happens after is the back-end side of things.
• Generation of hash code: A unique hash code is generated for each certificate that is issued. This code is submitted to the blockchain network (will happen in a minute) and serves as a certificate’s digital fingerprint.
• Information is encrypted: The information is encrypted to prevent fraudsters from benefiting from the sensitive information.
• Stored on the blockchain: After the document is encrypted and the hash code is applied, both these things are recorded on the blockchain.

This concludes the document generation procedure. You’re now free to share the blockchain-based digital certificate with the holder. Now, the holder might hold on to the certificate and never share it for verification. But if they do, the verification process comes into play.

However, it’s a lot of work if you don’t partner with a dedicated solution. To illustrate, you’ll have to share the submitted certificate with a trusted agency, wait for them to access the blockchain network and send you the relevant details, decrypt the data, compare the hash value of the document and one stored on blockchain, and then verify if the document is an original or a fake.

But you can bypass these lengthy steps if you partner with a dedicated solution provider like ProofEasy.

Why Choose ProofEasy for Document Certification?

When you partner with ProofEasy, you’ll only have to share the template and data required for the customized fields. The platform will take care of the rest.

Want to issue certificates in bulk? ProofEasy has your back. Want to verify if the document has been encrypted and if the hash code has been stored on the blockchain? We’ll share the hash code with you for cross-verification. Want to securely share the issued certificates? You can do it directly through the platform or copy the link and share it via your preferred method.

Better yet, our patented QR code technology provides an extra layer of security and makes it easier for the holders and verifiers to verify the document’s authenticity. That’s not all. Our solution is budget-friendly since we aim to make state-of-the-art blockchain technology accessible to the public at large.

The cherry on cake is that our customizable API layer makes IT integration seamless. There’s no learning curve involved and you can begin using the product from day one!

Don’t wait any longer. Contact the ProofEasy team to use blockchain for document certification in your organization.