Secure Academic Certificate Authentication and Tamper Detection Using Blockchain and Smart Contracts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65568/gujes.2026.020211Keywords:
blockchain,, Smart Contracts, , Academic Credentials,Abstract
th world of information security, Blockchain Technology has gained a lot of importance in the recent past as it uses hashing algorithms like SHA-256, thereby enabling the contents of the registered information to be secure and resistant to modification. In the current research paper, an effort has been made to exploit the Smart Contract feature of Blockchain Technology for academic credential verification. A Smart Contract System for secure registration and verification of academic credentials has been designed, developed, and deployed using Solidity. The proposed system uses SHA-256 hashes to represent academic credentials without storing the complete documents on the blockchain. Access control is used to restrict protected operations to the authorized issuer, while credential verification is performed by comparing the generated hash with the registered hash. The system was evaluated using 100 simulated academic credentials, including 50 original and 50 modified credentials across five tampering scenarios. The experimental results showed a 100% tamper detection rate and 100% verification accuracy under the tested conditions. Credential registration consumed 92,388 gas units, while contract deployment and unauthorized access attempts consumed 22,841 and 2,461 gas units, respectively. The results show that the developed Smart Contract System can support secure academic credential registration and verification while detecting modifications to the tested credential information.
References
[1] P. Khandelwal, R. Johari, V. Gaur, and D. Vashisth, “BlockChain Technology based Smart Contract Agreement on REMIX IDE,” in 2021 8th International Conference on Signal Processing and Integrated Networks (SPIN), IEEE, Aug. 2021, pp. 938–942. doi: 10.1109/SPIN52536.2021.9565983.
[2] N. El Madhoun, I. Dionysiou, and E. Bertin, Eds., Blockchain and Smart-Contract Technologies for Innovative Applications. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland, 2024. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-50028-2.
[3] M. Gurunathan, M. A. Mahmoud, I. L. H. Alsammak, and S. S. Gunasekaran, “Development of Smart Contract Blockchain Integrated Model (Lightblock) for IOT Applications,” 2025, pp. 269–287. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-75091-5_15.
[4] E. Sivakumar, K. J. Singh, P. Chawla, and G. Ganesan, “RBEDH: A Decentralized Role-Based Event Driven Hybrid Framework for Smart Contracts,” IEEE Access, vol. 13, pp. 74781–74798, 2025, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2025.3554630.
[5] T. Zaidi, M. Usman, M. U. Aftab, H. Aljuaid, and Y. Y. Ghadi, “Fabrication of Flexible Role-Based Access Control Based on Blockchain for Internet of Things Use Cases,” IEEE Access, vol. 11, pp. 106315–106333, 2023, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3318487.
[6] K. Soumya, K. S. Sharat, and N. Sreenivas, “Academic certificate fraud detection by Web-based intelligent access control system: An effective role of Blockchain technology,” Int. J. Inf. Manag. Data Insights, vol. 6, no. 1, p. 100386, Jun. 2026, doi: 10.1016/j.jjimei.2025.100386.
[7] A. Rustemi, F. Dalipi, V. Atanasovski, and A. Risteski, “A Systematic Literature Review on Blockchain-Based Systems for Academic Certificate Verification,” IEEE Access, vol. 11, pp. 64679–64696, 2023, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3289598.
[8] S. A. Sultana, C. Rupa, R. P. Malleswari, and T. R. Gadekallu, “IPFS-Blockchain Smart Contracts Based Conceptual Framework to Reduce Certificate Frauds in the Academic Field,” Information, vol. 14, no. 8, p. 446, Aug. 2023, doi: 10.3390/info14080446.
[9] M. Fartitchou, I. Lamaakal, K. El Makkaoui, Z. El Allali, and Y. Maleh, “BlockMEDC: Blockchain Smart Contracts System for Securing Moroccan Higher Education Digital Certificates,” IEEE Access, vol. 13, pp. 39152–39175, 2025, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2025.3546177.
[10] A. Rustemi, F. Dalipi, V. Atanasovski, and A. Risteski, “DIAR: a blockchain-based system for generation and verification of academic diplomas,” Discov. Appl. Sci., vol. 6, no. 6, p. 297, May 2024, doi: 10.1007/s42452-024-05984-1.
[11] F. Kabashi, H. Snopçe, A. Luma, and V. Neziri, “Trustworthy Verification of Academic Credentials through Blockchain Technology,” Int. J. Online Biomed. Eng., vol. 20, no. 09, pp. 51–64, Jun. 2024, doi: 10.3991/ijoe.v20i09.48999.
[12] S. H. Said, R. S. Sinde, E. M. Kosia, and M. A. Dida, “A Comprehensive Blockchain-Based System for Educational Qualifications Management and Verification to Counter Forgery,” IEEE Access, vol. 13, pp. 31562–31589, 2025, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2025.3542545.
[13] M. A. Cardenas-Quispe and A. Pacheco, “Blockchain ensuring academic integrity with a degree verification prototype,” Sci. Rep., vol. 15, no. 1, p. 9281, Mar. 2025, doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-93913-6.
[14] S. Narvekar, S. Patil, P. Motghare, T. Panaskar, and R. Pawar, “A Secure Framework for Academic Certificate Authentication on Ethereum Blockchain,” in 2025 IEEE International Conference on Blockchain and Distributed Systems Security (ICBDS), IEEE, Oct. 2025, pp. 1–6. doi: 10.1109/ICBDS67396.2025.11377304.
[15] J. A. Berrios Moya, J. Ayoade, and M. A. Uddin, “A Zero-Knowledge Proof-Enabled Blockchain-Based Academic Record Verification System,” Sensors, vol. 25, no. 11, p. 3450, May 2025, doi: 10.3390/s25113450.
[16] T.-D. Tran, H. P. G. Bao, N. T. Cam, and V.-H. Pham, “DAVE-CC: A decentralized, access-controlled, verifiable ecosystem for cross-chain academic credential management,” J. Inf. Secur. Appl., vol. 94, p. 104238, Nov. 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.jisa.2025.104238.
[17] A. Rustemi and F. Dalipi, “From Concept to Practice: A Blockchain‐Based Solution for Secure and Efficient Academic Credentials in Higher Education,” IET Blockchain, vol. 6, no. 1, Jan. 2026, doi: 10.1049/blc2.70030.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Gharyan University Journal of Engineering Science (GUJES)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
