Hybrid Blockchain-based Academic Credential Verification System (B-ACVS)

Blockchain, the pillar of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), is being used to provide security to the data of traditional record-keeping systems. However, the implementation of blockchain technology is not easily possible in such systems. For instance, the execution cost of shifting the existing system to the blockchain is extremely high making it unfeasible for many organizations. Moreover, this technology is still immature and is not being fully adopted yet in all parts of the world and may have severe challenges and complexities to achieve its widespread adoption. Considering these two major concerns, the replacement of existing traditional systems with purely Blockchain-based systems will be risky especially in developing countries as it requires major social, legal, and political changes. In this paper, a hybrid Blockchain-based Academic Credential Verification System (B-ACVS) is proposed. The framework combines Blockchain technology with the off-chain centralized data storage that offers facilitation of high security at an affordable cost to any existing system. For a proof of concept, a prototype implementation of a fully transparent, time-saving cost-effective B-ACVS using the proposed hybrid framework is presented. Rich features like Legacy System Support, Hard Commit, and Auto Synchronization of on-chain and off-chain data provide significance to hybrid B-ACVS upon other Blockchain-based solutions. A cost analysis of the proposed hybrid framework along with purely Blockchain-based systems is also provided. The proposed hybrid B-ACVS framework not only provides integrity of data to detect any tempering in off-chain data as well as security of data by utilizing blockchain technology. Thie proposed system is fully recoverable if an attempt is made to destroy it or a part of it.