How useful it is to issue digital certificates on the blockchain?

Blog content:

Blockchain technology is used in several ways in varied industries for offering high-security managing distribution systems and recording valuable information. Blockchain records all transactions without any verification from third parties. An evolving issue in recent years is - counterfeiting certification. It is posing serious threats to people. Issuing paper-based certificates manually is prone to errors and time- consuming. Day by day, the number of people's data is increasing, so deploying a system for both issuing and verifying digital certificates based on blockchain technology can solve issues of forged documents.

What is the current problem with document certification?

Many organisations and businesses need original documents for verification purposes before further processing. Some valuable documents like (birth certificates) exist only once. Parties involved in verification and issuing other certificates may experience hesitancy to handle these sensitive documents and that can result in damage or even loss. Many parties are unable to protect the valuable physical pieces of paper with this process. Another big problem comes from data theft. Many people have reported it. So the question comes: how can this issue be solved? Creating digital proof or digital certificates certified or signed by respective institutions or authorised organisations can be beneficial. With blockchain-based digital certificates, you can access and verify the digital asset's authenticity without depending on any intermediary or third party. Traditional data records like paper files deteriorate over time. storing records like digital certificates on the blockchain can help in safeguarding sensitive credentials from destruction & damage. Blockchain document security methods can help users seamlessly secure their sensitive documents.

What about blockchain solutions?

Blockchain technology has brought a revolution in storing and sharing data. The mechanism of cryptography helps in keeping information fully secured. Blockchain offers a digital ledger or decentralised database of data. Centred on computer networks that approve updates before data get recorded and verified. It lessens the reliance and vulnerability of centralised data storage. Instead of handling physical pieces of documents, issuing and storing digital certificates in blockchain can be advantageous to users. You can efficiently utilise the benefits of blockchain, like - authentication, encryption and decentralisation. Every certificate consists of references of both issuer and receiver with a hash (a sign of document), that is stored in the public database. It is identical in the number of computers throughout the globe. These digital certificates with blockchain technology have vital additional advantages over any other certificates.

How does blockchain make digital certificates work?

When a digital certificate is issued, data gets digitised. A digital identity gets assigned to every certificate. All of the digital certificates are tagged as well as traceable. Original documents are stored safely in the computer networks in the blockchain which are known as nodes. In totality, blockchain makes digital certificates highly transparent and secured. It also makes it easy to unfurl any fraud because this technology can expose any forged or outdated certificates.

Are these digital certificates tamper-proof?

Yes, the digital certificates are tamper-proof not by just signing but right after the beginning of the transaction. A signing algorithm produces a signature that is encrypted through a private key. The digital signature in these certificates can never be forged without having access to the private key of the user or members. With the help of document security QR codes, users can secure their valuable credentials.

What are the potential benefits of issuing digital certificates on the blockchain?

Blockchain has evolved to be beneficial for the financial industry. This technology is the most talked about and sought-after technology used in the world. There are innumerable benefits of issuing digital certificates on the blockchain. Some of them are here: a) Require fewer resources for issuance: Issuance and maintenance of digital certificates on the blockchain require a very less number of resources. As a result, the whole process saves time, effort and human capital. b) Digital certificates are conveyable: Contrary to physical certificates, the digital ones issued on the blockchain need not be carried around every place. Digital certificates are there to exist for a lifetime. These certificates can be easily accessed on any of your devices from any part of the world. c) Ideal as Identity proof: Digital certificates based on blockchain are the best substitution for the traditional proofs of paper identification. Digital certificates are issued on a highly secured framework of blockchain which is fully secured. These verifiable certificates can be easily traced all the way back to an issuer. This method makes the procedure transparent. You can use the blockchain document security method for securing and storing your valuable documents. d) Gives overall data security: Paper certificates can also take days and months to get issued and dispatched. Paper certificates can be altered without issuing the institute's knowledge and that is risky. Digital certificates issued on the blockchain can not be altered by any person. If someone tries to tamper with it, then verification will fail. This makes data in your digital certificates fully secured as well as traceable. e) No third party requirement: Blockchain verification of digital certificates can be performed by any person having access to the network. There is no need for any third party interference for verification. Digital certificates can be verified even if any organisation that issued them no longer exists. f) For micro-credentialing: Every data remains encrypted in the digital certificates issued on the blockchain. Organisations or businesses can issue "micro-credentialing" for recognizing, career skills, learning and so on. It can help both students and organisations. g) Comes at an affordable cost: Using blockchain is not expensive. With the help of the blockchain-powered platform, you can issue digital certificates for numerous services with ease. You may need no extra software or hardware and be done with an internet connection. So in nutshell, the unique features of blockchain technology make issuing digital certificates easy and tamper-proof. Blockchain technology simplifies and facilities the entire process of issuance of digital certificates. It also helps in the easy transfer of these certificates leading to the expansion of contents and information. We hope in the next few years, more and more organisations will come forward in embracing digital certificates issuance on the blockchain. A blockchain document security system can help you to secure sensitive credentials with ease.

Why is Blockchain QR Codes Safer Than Normal QR Codes?

Posted on September 11, 2021

After an enhancement in use and range of application for decades, QR codes enjoy a moment. In the year 2020, both consumers and businesses incorporated touchless solutions. Charities, App-centric payment companies, nonprofits, and point-of-sale systems used online QR code generators to make customer portals that dodged button pushing and credit card exchanges.

The giant tech companies are also embracing blockchain-based QR codes in a big way. Silicon Valley and other companies are finding QR codes effective for self-service information in transactions, retail stores, and other uses. Most interestingly, QR codes are becoming useful for augmented reality.

For example, marketers love QR codes because these are a convenient way to optimize campaigns. Instead of having customers visit a web address manually, QR codes remove potential typos by sending users directly to the company’s website, signup form, documents, or even app. Similarly, education institutions have started using QR codes to ensure that the concerned people or receivers can identify if the certificate or degree is fake or not. Once scanning the QR Code printed on the certificate, the end-user gets redirected to the website URL. Hence, QR codes include all the data and credentials of the certificate holder and keeps it safe. But the point is how secure are these QR codes.

Security of QR Codes

Well, Quick Response Codes or QR Codes continue to grow in popularity, mainly because of COVID-19. Hackers are aware and are looking forward to attacking consumers with digital barcodes. After all, the ease and efficiency of QR Codes come with security risks as well.

QR code technology has no type of security flaws, and one cannot hack it. The security risks that people often associate with QR codes are like hacking, phishing or malware do not origin from QR code technology instead from the final destination of each code. of course, third parties might hack the web page, link up malicious software, or steal data, it is in the same way attackers conduct email or text message scams.

But, if you make the most of blockchain benefit through a blockchain-based QR code, you can be on the safer side. In a general QR code, there remains a risk that the data or the information in the QR codes can get manipulated. But it is not the case with the secure type of QR codes.

Blockchain QR Code is Safer

Not only are blockchain-based Secure QR codes safer to use, but there are even many cases where these QR codes are used as an extra security measure. Some websites, such as online banking sites, use secure blockchain-based QR codes for two-factor authentication. Once customers login to their accounts, they get a prompt to scan a QR code using the mobile banking apps for an extra layer of verification.

The main thing that differentiates blockchain-based QR Codes from regular ones is their immense Blockchain technology after a QR code gets scanned. At the time of generation of the QR code, the system puts a unique hash value into the QR code. Now, when the user or even consumer scans the QR code to access the information or data, the system first cross-checks the hash value in the QR code. It compares the hash value of the QR code to the hash value of the blockchain. If it matches, only then can the user access it. It makes the entire system incorruptible, immutable, self-patchable, self-expandable in the absence of negligible points of failure. The fact is once there is a hash value in the QR codes, nobody can even touch it.

The unique hash technology makes it challenging to hack the system as the attackers would require different computers to tamper with the data. The ways DNAs and fingerprints cannot be tampered with in any way; so are these unique hash values. You can never find any two hash values the same. Hence, it is clear that a blockchain-based QR code is safer than the general one, and they are undoubtedly a future-proofed solution.

The Bottom Line

General QR codes are safe, but since one can modify them, their safety stands vulnerable. However, if you use blockchain-based QR codes, they are future-proofed. Whether you use them for secure documents or data, nobody can modify them as the unique hash value in these QR codes is permanent. To know more about secure blockchain based QR codes and how you can incorporate them, contact us at Proofeasy.