Techniques to help eliminate counterfeit certificates

The number of “mills” producing and selling forged certificates is increasing day by day. This malpractice leads to real risk in everyday life and business transactions, causing loss of reputation, loss of opportunities and sometimes even loss of life in the form of counterfeit. Medical degree treats patients. Paper-based records or even digital records that cannot be easily verified enable this malpractice and make it difficult for regulators to control such abuse.

India is a leader in creating Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for identification and payments. Can we adopt DPI approach and create system that enables reliable data exchange between parties? Whether it is students sharing their transcripts and certificates to seek a seat for higher education, or customers submitting payslips, work experience and such documents for bank loans, we submit and submit documents hundreds of times a year. Verify. These examples highlight the need to enable a data exchange system, which relies on verifiable datasets, and which is managed by individuals.

This sense of convenience, data portability and security is provided by the Verifiable Credentials (VC) specification from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). VCs allow the selective exchange of information, while ensuring that a bridge of digital trust is created between the holder and the seeker of the data. This model also helps to incubate high quality in digital data economy by enabling reusable or reusable data.

There are four key aspects to the secure data exchange model involving VCs. The issuer of the VC (at most, an organization), the intended recipient or holder, the verifier, and a trust registry. The Trust Registry is a repository of transactions that enables on-demand verification and emergence of data. Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) and Blockchain are suitable for this trust registry, which requires an immutable data store. A well-designed model using VC addresses three key requirements of data governance, reducing the surface area for attack vectors focused on data breaches; Ensure better data modeling to reduce the need to package and disseminate Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and ensure selective disclosure of information for better control over data flow.

In the case of universities, the VC model may be adopted for issuing “fake certificates”. These can be verified by scanning using the camera app on mobile devices. The verifier of such documents can get details about them, while this entire flow is built around a notice and consent receipt flow that involves the record holder. In the case of universities, VCs can be used to issue “unreliable” certificates which can be easily verified by the employer through an online mechanism with the consent of the candidate.

With the introduction of new decentralized ecosystems such as Digital Ecosystem for Skilling and Livelihoods (DESH) and Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) in India, the need for VCs is expected to grow rapidly. In a centralized e-commerce and skilling platform, the platform creates provider systems that enable sellers and service providers to rate. However, the reputation built by users cannot be transferred from one platform to another. VCs are built for a decentralized world, and enable users to manage their data, certificates and credentials and share it with anyone. In doing so, VCs provide users with an unprecedented level of convenience, privacy and control. In an increasingly digital world, VCs will enable high quality authenticated data, thus reducing the cost of doing business and the liabilities associated with data processing workflows. In the next few years, it may become difficult due to VCs to submit fake certificates and fake documents.

Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay does research on Digital Public Goods and Services. He works at Dhive on community engagement and standards.

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