Blockchain certificates: a prototype implementation for digitizing educational certificates
Date
2018
Authors
Otolo, Richard
Maingi, Eunice
Sevilla, Joseph
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Strathmore University
Abstract
The prevalence of fake academic certificates in the country is worrying. This has come to light in the media during the vetting process for different jobs such as when recruiting candidates for key public sector positions. The fraudulent use of fake qualifications is a fact that educational institutions and employers have to face. In order to curb this trend, institutions have taken measures that usually involve a third party to verify the authenticity of educational certificates. The main weaknesses of this approach include the time taken to verify certificates is too long. Additionally, the fact that there is an intermediary introduces aspects such as extra costs and the potential inaccessibility to institutions in all geographies. This research project proposes to set up a system that not only makes it easy to maintain records of academic achievement but also make the fast and effective verification of a certificate’s authenticity possible. The system will rely on distributed ledger technology also known as blockchain, to accomplish this goal. A blockchain is a trustworthy, distributed digital ledger that contains records of transactions that are replicated across many systems. The records are cryptographically guaranteed to be immutable. This research intends to leverage these and other features of distributed ledgers in order to develop a system that can address the issue of fake certificates.
Description
2018 Conference paper. Theme (ICT, Mobile Applications and Cyber-Security)
Keywords
Blockchain technology, Digitization, cyber security