Blockchain Application for Academic Documents Verification

Abstract

Blockchain is an innovative technology that has the potential to overhaul our approach to many problems and issues which previously did not seem possible. Blockchain is distributed ledger technology in which record of different transactions are stored on continuously growing ledger. This ledger of transactions are kept on different peers of network in a way that make it tamper proof. Data on blockchain is highly secured by the use of cryptography and network structure of blockchain makes it almost impossible to hack. Moreover, transactions on blockchain are immutable, auditable and traceable. Fake and forged academic documents is a major issue that organizations face worldwide. Particularly in Pakistan, verification of academic documents is a time consuming process that may require up to several days which prolong administrative processes of organizations. In this research we design and implement an approach to issue academic degrees on blockchain, which can be verified by an employer by using Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) number of an individual. The proposed solution for academic documents verification is a developed using Hyperledger Fabric. The chaincode (smart contract) is developed in Go programming language. Web Interface of the application is implemented by using official NodeJS Software Development Kit (SDK) for Hyperledger Fabric. This system allows examination section to create degrees on the blockchain network which is then signed by different officials. After creation of a degree, first it needs to be signed by Principal, then by University Registrar and finally by University Rector. After all the sign transactions, the degree is made available for verification to any organization that have obtained proper network enrollment certificates from Higher Education Commission (HEC) or University