In every aspect of our lives, credentials are crucial. Legal documents are required for any legitimate practices, while identification documents confirm our nationality, identity, and status. Educational records also attest to our proficiency in the obtained qualifications. Each certification aids in establishing our identification or confirming our qualifications.

Traditional paper-based certificates served as our only source of identification documentation for the past few decades. But during the most recent worldwide pandemic, the world’s internet landscape completely changed, and India was no exception.

Important identity cards in India, such as the Aadhar Card and the PAN Card, are now also accessible in electronic versions. Additionally, academic institutions and EdTech businesses are expanding quickly and making progress in the development of digital learning platforms. Digital Credentials are currently being used by educational institutions in place of traditional paper-based credentials as a valid method of identifying competent applicants.

India’s requirement for digital credentials:

Since selecting the ideal candidate is crucial to the hiring process, the recruiter must thoroughly investigate the candidate’s capabilities and the authenticity of the information contained in the offered credentials. It is vital for higher education institutions and EdTech firms to adopt digital credentials that feature blockchain technology since fake qualifications and fraudulent activity are still on the rise in India.

The most secure method of creating credentials and fixing any security flaws with those credentials is through the use of blockchain technology. The Indian government made the initiative to introduce blockchain technology in India in 2020 after realizing the critical need of doing so.

Blockchain Technology and Digital Credentials:

A progressive society is one that develops and advances its technology. For its safe, quick, and straightforward use in the education sector, blockchain technology is one such vital invention that has gained worldwide traction. In 2020, Blockchain technology was brought to India, and it has since revolutionised the way that institutions and Edtech companies issue credentials in the education sector.

Leading providers of advanced education and career development services, including Udemy, Coursera, and Upgrad, are improving their educational platforms by integrating blockchain technology and digital credentials. Blockchain technology has undoubtedly had a significant impact on the Indian education sector as a result of being adopted by the best Edtech businesses and academic institutions.

In order to raise the standard of education, EdTech firms and educational institutions have begun integrating blockchain into their curricula while still employing and training millions of students and professionals. The safest and most practical method for issuing digital credentials is using blockchain technology. Additionally, it raises brand recognition and can be tracked and validated. Digital credentials are kept in blockchain databases and have a history that can be followed for verification.

Amazon QLDB and Blockchain:

 

Blockchain technology requires a centralized database that retains any updates or transactions and maintains an extensive record of them for businesses and users to use it.  Relational databases or even one of the open-source blockchain technologies can be used by users today to achieve this. Utilizing a blockchain framework’s ledger may give users access to an immutable record of collected data, but doing so comes at the cost of the arduous work needed to set up a full blockchain network that has at least two nodes and the necessary access control protocols.

To a centrally trusted authority, the Amazon Quantum Ledger Database (Amazon QLDB) offers a visible, irreversible, and cryptographically traceable record of transactions. Use Amazon QLDB to maintain a complete and validated change history and track all application data changes. As a result, Amazon QLDB lessens the biggest drawback of blockchain systems, which is the need for network members’ consent before adding new transactions to the shared ledger and thus dramatically lowering ledger performance.

Security of Blockchain Technology:

The promise of confidentiality, dependability, safety, and trustworthiness of blockchain technology exists. The system operates by recording transactions in the ledger that have been verified by a bigger group of users rather than a single central authority. To guard against cybersecurity threats, blockchain security uses the level of assurance and cybersecurity frameworks. Blockchain technology is based on the principles of decentralization, consensus, and encryption for the sake of fundamental security.

While it is challenging to provide both security and privacy in a traditional data system, blockchain can do so by permitting anonymity through “public key architecture,” which guards against malicious attempts to alter data, and by maintaining the size of a ledger constant. There is no doubt that the transfer and storage of information will be revolutionized by blockchain technology.

• Singapore-Australias Experiments Blockchain Digital Verification Systems:

 

The Australian Border Force (ABF) and two Singaporean government organizations have experimented to see if their blockchain-based digital verification technologies might operate collaboratively. The blockchain trial was launched as part of the Singapore-Australia Digital Economy Agreement, which aims to make cross-border trading between the two countries more convenient.

The compatibility of two digital verification systems, the ABF’s Intergovernmental Ledger (IGL) and the IMDA’s TradeTrust reference implementation was successfully tested during the testing. When scanned or machine-read, QR codes encoded with unique proofs are put into digital Certificates of Origin (COO), allowing for instant verification of the document’s authenticity and integrity. The approval of verified COOs by a regulating entity, Singapore Customs, was a crucial success of the trial.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Australian Industry Group, ANZ Bank, DBS Bank, Standard Chartered, and Rio Tinto all participated in the study and noticed the benefits of increased performance through cost and time reductions through using verifiable COOs.