What is Identity Theft? Can Blockchain Help?

making blockchain encrypted qr code

Identity theft emerges when a criminal obtains or uses the personal information like name, login, date of birth, Social Security number (SSN), etc., of someone else to assume their individuality or access their accounts. They do so to commit fraud, get benefits, or experience financial gains.

With attackers using ever more advanced ways to commit identity fraud, it is becoming challenging for companies, organizations, educational institutions, etc., to guard against fraud. Here, blockchain technology can be helpful. Approximately un-hackable, this technology is based on a public ledger to record and automatically confirm the transactions. Hence, it is much more efficient in terms of security in any sector and dealing with the problems of identity frauds in the industry.

Once you use a blockchain ledger to manage identities, it would be hard for the fraudsters to attack without leaving a clear digital trail. Every block in the blockchain constructs upon its predecessor and the cryptographic nature of blockchain blocks makes it tough to alter information stored in the current blocks. The eventual record is immutable. It means that changes to every identifier associated with an individual should be logged. This concept prevents malicious actions by data custodians. Hence, it finally makes identity theft challenging to execute.

Blockchain Is Rigid

A good feature of Blockchain is that any transaction or information that you record on the Blockchain is unchangeable. It is because nobody can change or delete the information. So though you can create a new transaction to change the state of any asset, the new data will add up to the chain.

Use of QR Codes

The data of students is crucial and popular among data thefts. Similarly, In recent years, the authentication of the certificates at the workplace has become the main challenge as many false certificates have been identified and kept appearing. Hackers can develop fake certificates by stealing information from different educational institutes and vending them in the black market.

With the implementation of blockchain technology, the authorities can issue and distribute the certificates with the advanced authentication process. For example, making blockchain encrypted qr code could be a good idea. The authorities can put a blockchain-based secure QR code on the confidential documents, and only the authentic person can access it. Once a person tries to access the data, it would reveal only once the hash value on the secure QR code matches with the secure QR code on the blockchain network. An employer or educational faculty member can verify the certificate and determine if it is original or counterfeit.

Types of Identity Thefts  

  • Mail identity theft
  • E-commerce fraud
  • Synthetic identity theft
  • Driver’s license identity theft
  • Social security number theft
  • Internet of things identity theft
  • Medical identity theft

Now imagine that all the data about a person’s identity is stored on a blockchain network. It includes rights from driving license to that of passport to social security number, educational certificates, medical and insurance data, and other confidential details. Creating a true identity on Blockchain will permit you to take care of your identity documents. Even if you have to make a payment, you can use a financial transaction using qr code and ensure that everything is immutable.

Hence, Blockchain’s immutable register will save people’s identities, ensuring each has a unique, difficult-to-hack code. Furthermore, you can access, see, monitor, and even update data anytime through a secure QR code or by entering the authentication keys. Hence, data stays secured against hacker attacks.

 The Bottom Line

With Blockchain technology, you can ensure secure financial transactions, safe storage of your data, and more. As a result, nobody can access your data for identity fraud. Get started with ProofEasy solutions to fight identity fraud.