Preventing Forged and Fabricated Academic Credentials using Cryptography and QR Codes

The objective of this paper is to present a method of detecting forgery and fabrication in educational certificates and academic transcripts based on cryptography and QR codes. Discussed in detail are the requirements that need to be met by educational institutes issuing academic certificates or transcripts. The cryptographic steps of converting certificate details into a ciphertext, encoding it in a QR code and printing the same on the certificate or transcript to be issued are elaborated. This paper also explains in detail how the certificate owners, other institutes, employers and third-party verifiers can verify certificates for forgery and fabrication using the scanning app of the issuing institute. The encryption and decryption formulae that should be used in computations to be performed before creating and after scanning a QR code are documented. Educational institutes and universities can implement this method in their certificate issuing process just by obtaining a cryptographic key pair and publishing their QR code scanning app for download by verifiers.