Secure Academic Credential Management using Blockchain-Based Self-Sovereign Identity

Abstract

Digital identity management and verification of educational credentials have grown increasingly difficult in today\'s times. Conventional practices tend to include centralized systems that are vulnerable to breaches and inefficiencies. Realizing the existing difficulties in identity management, we suggest a decentralized SSI-enabled model to overcome these difficulties. The model facilitates SSI-enabled operations such as user sign-up, issuing decentralized identifiers (DIDs) with public/private keys created upon sign-up, issuing and creation of verifiable credentials (VCs) in the form of digital certificates of student information, academic records, and issuer signatures and credential validation facilitated by decentralized blockchain-based ledger. Educational institutions issue and create verifiable credentials associated with students ID. The system enables learners to obtain and hold verifiable credentials (VCs) for their digital proof of certificate. The issued credentials would be retained off-chain and hash value of the credential would be maintained in blockchain ledger. The model uses cryptography such as hashing and digital signature to check data integrity and authenticity and issuance of the credential, storing and verifying will be handled by Smart Contract. An easy-to-use interface that provides management, request, and document verification. An integrated system based on blockchain, decentralized storage, and cryptographic algorithms ensures a privacy-oriented and consistent system for handling academic documents.

Introduction

Traditional academic credential systems face several critical challenges:

• Centralized control leads to security vulnerabilities, inefficiencies, and data privacy issues.

• Credential fraud (e.g., fake degrees, forged documents) undermines trust in academic qualifications.

• Manual verification processes are time-consuming, expensive, and non-scalable.

• Lack of interoperability across countries and institutions impedes global mobility and verification.

2. Proposed Solution

The research proposes a Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) system powered by blockchain technology to create a secure, decentralized, user-controlled academic credential platform.

Key Components:

• Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs): Unique blockchain-based identities owned and managed by users (students).

• Verifiable Credentials (VCs): Digitally signed academic records issued by institutions, cryptographically verifiable.

• Blockchain Ledger: Stores hashes of VCs immutably for tamper-evidence and easy validation.

• Cryptographic Techniques: Uses SHA-256 hashing and digital signatures to ensure data integrity and privacy.

• Smart Contracts: Automate credential issuance and verification.

3. System Architecture & Workflow

• Universities issue credentials (VCs) upon program completion.

• Each VC is hashed using SHA-256 and stored on Hyperledger Fabric blockchain.

• Students receive a DID linked to their VC, giving them complete control.

• Verification is done by comparing the provided VC hash with the one on the blockchain—no need for intermediaries.

4. Technology Stack

• Blockchain: Hyperledger Fabric (permissioned, scalable, secure)

• Smart Contracts: For automated VC issuance and validation

• SHA-256: For hashing credentials

• Docker: For environment consistency and deployment

• DIDs: For decentralized identity management

5. Key Benefits

• ???? Security & Privacy: Cryptographic protection and user control over data

• ? No Credential Forgery: Tamper-proof records on blockchain

• ?? Efficiency: Fast issuance and instant verification (1.2–2.3 seconds)

• ???? User Sovereignty: Students own and control their credentials

• ???? Interoperability & Scalability: Global use with up to 500 transactions/sec

6. Results

• Issuance Time: ~2.3 seconds per credential

• Verification Time: ~1.2 seconds for a single VC, ~3.5 seconds for batches of 10

• System Scalability: Handles up to 500 TPS efficiently

• User Satisfaction: 95% found the system easy, fast, and secure

Conclusion

This paper articulated a self-sovereign identity (SSI) model, built on blockchain technology, to manage academic certificates in a decentralized and secure approach to issuing credentials and verifying them. Using cryptographic techniques and an unalterable blockchain platform, security, authenticity, and control over user data are improved by the application of a proposed system. The model ensured that academic records cannot be tampered with, while students themselves remain the owners of their own credentials. This framework significantly reduces the period for verification, eliminating forgery opportunities, and therefore makes credentialing more transparent and efficient. Various challenges, ranging from initial infrastructure investments to regulatory compliance, exist, but the potential benefit outweighs these constraints. Future work should be focused on real-world deployment, scalability improvement, and interoperability with current existing academic credentialing systems. This model opens the door of solution to revolutionize credential management and build trust while facilitating verification processes in both academic and professional settings.

References

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Copyright

Copyright © 2025 Rehna R S, Aswathy L, Nandana B S, Mariam Susan Lal, Rithu S Raj. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.