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

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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.

Digital Certificate Versus Blockchain

Posted on May 23, 2022

A thought-provoking word keeps emerging everywhere you see in the security world: Blockchain. As the word cloud, this technology concept has taken grip of the security industry. It has turned out to be one of the hottest emerging technologies.

In simplest words , a Blockchain is a system that can provide validation and immutable copies of data. Hence, it secures all types of data transactions and document storage. It makes the data and documents tamper-proof.

However, you must be wondering what businesses did before the appearance of blockchain technology? For so many decades now, digital signatures have been the technique through which systems have provided integrity, non-repudiation, and verification to access the contents of any data set electronically across different networks.

Digital signatures in Brief

Businesses commonly use digital signatures in emails and other systems. These signatures include a mathematical algorithm that forms up a hash (signature) using data from both the contents of the message and information of the key.

Over the years, digital signatures have become increasingly secure by adding information to the key. It even used different kinds of cryptography and implemented unconventional signature systems. Advanced electronic signatures have formed an added layer of security by staying compliant with needed requirements. It controls the private key, and the signature can detect when someone has tampered with the data. E-signatures are not unbeatable, but people accept them as an excellent standard for authentication and non-repudiation. It is because users understand them widely and have only had a few security incidents.

Understanding Blockchain

As with all sorts of systems in cyber, when experts find one system to be less than ideal, there is always an effort to form an improved, stone-secure system to prevent all attacks. Blockchain arose as a hit when Bitcoin initially implemented the use of a Blockchain application. That was the most advanced cryptocurrency system so far. Furthermore, various organizations, financial services, and clearing corporations have begun considering the system as an innovative way to device extra security measures into their overall transactions.

Blockchain, though seemingly complicated, is simple. Blockchain is a sequence of timestamped data records that link together, forming the chain. There is a recording of a hash of the earlier transaction to create transactions, and there is the use of the recipient’s public key by the signer, together with the signer’s private key. All transactions need the signer to have their private key; without such a thing, you would be unlucky as you cannot do any transaction. Blockchains technology intend to replace an external, trusted third party like certificate authorities, and prevent anyone from going backward and covering their tracks if they corrupted any entry.

Furthermore, one can easily validate a document with a document security QR code. Once you put the QR code on any document, a person can access it only if the secure Qr code matches the QR code on the blockchain network. These QR codes include a unique hash value that makes everything immutable.

Digital Certificates & Blockchain Working Together

Digital signatures have become the main control in many organizations’ security strategies. These rely on certificates and complicated mathematical algorithms to offer the authenticity of the data and protection against forgery.

Blockchain works by adding the business ledger feature. It allows for multiple signatures, forming fingerprints and timestamps, and allocating information across multiple systems in a network versus any centralized server. The point is Blockchain adds a high value to the proof-of-work concept. In this, nobody can edit or remove the transactions and hence significantly secures transactions and signature technologies.

The Bottom Line

Both digital certificates and blockchain technology have been revolutionizing the world of cybersecurity. But speaking of blockchain technology, there are still various hurdles producing concern for organizations or businesses considering the jump from digital signatures to Blockchain. But there is no harm in trying blockchain solutions; just give it a try with ProofEasy.