What is a digital credential?
A credential is a formal recognition by a recognised authority that has assessed and determined that a person, through examination, experience or performance, has achieved a particular level of competency.
Traditionally, credentials were in the form of a paper certificate. As the email age dawned, these documents were converted to digital form, like a PDF, so they could be exchanged quickly and reliably.
As the digital revolution accelerated, new technologies were developed and consumer behaviour changed. Ensuring the authenticity of digital credentials became important. Organisations needed digital credentials that were tamper-proof, legally valid and guaranteed to be genuine.
A new class of credentials – verifiable credentials
Today, the issuing of digital credentials has reached a new level of maturity and a new class of digital credentials has emerged – verifiable credentials.
Verifiable credentials follow a standard developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). They are designed to be tamper-proof, genuine, and to give individuals control of their digital identity.
Cryptographically tamper-proof
Issuing and holder proof embedded into the credential
Protects personal identity - GDPR compliant
Eliminates back to base verification
Revocable, scalable and cost efficient
How verifiable credentials prevent fraud
Verifiable credentials are designed to be used as a digital alternative to paper credentials that were physical, held (controlled) by the individual, without the need for a central repository. This is because verifiable credentials have been designed to incorporate Decentralised Identifiers (DIDs). A DID means that a verifier can prove that the credential was issued to the individual presenting the credential. This enables trust between parties in an electronic format. Information of any type can be embedded, issued and validated. The concept of decentralised identity also enables another important concept: Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI).
All current forms of identity are issued to individuals. They are not under the control of the individual. For example, an email address or user account, which can be taken away or reissued to another individual. DIDs are completely unique identifiers that can only be issued once by a decentralised network (that has no single controller). The individual is issued a credential linked to the issuer’s DID and they have full control over how their information is used. They can then present a claim built from elements of multiple credentials which can then be validated, disclosing minimal personal information, such as proving you are over 18, without revealing your date of birth. Internet services can now be built where the individuals’ data is no longer a product to be monetised.
Reduced cost and improve scalability
Verifiable credentials can also scale and are cost-effective, so they are a powerful solution for issuing almost any type of credential with embedded data. They can be created as the curriculum definition stage, with course content and learning outcomes, and can be represented as building blocks of any size. In learning they can be issued, combined, stacked and used to improve efficiency of highly automated systems such as admissions, enrolment, transfers, credit, issuing certificates and many other services. So, while the control of the credential, once issued, rests with the individual, the rules relating to what is issued, and how the credentials relate to one another is determined by issuing authorities.
Solutions in the workplace
This technology is not only suitable for issuing credentials for learning, it can be used for any purpose that requires validation that a claim was issued to an individual such as identity cards and proof of employment.
VCs allow for a greater level of automated, cost-efficient services with the instant digital identification and verification of any digital asset or credential.
Who benefits?
- Issuer – the organisation that has the authority to issue the credential, such as an educational institution, training provider, government department or employer.
- Holder – the user, who owns the credential and stores it in their digital wallet.
- Verifier – the person or organisation authenticating the credential, like a hiring company needing to check a candidate’s educational credentials.
Digital badges
The learning landscape is changing to meet the future of work and a culture of ongoing retraining and upskilling has developed. Short courses – microcredentials – have become a popular form of gaining professional development.
Digital badges are an icon typically used in the education and training sectors to credit this type of learning. They are used to acknowledge skills and achievements, such as completing a course or mastering a particular topic, or to track progress and provide motivation. Digital badges can be used by the holder in email signatures, digital resumes and social media sites to indicate their achievements.
Digital badges contain verified metadata that describes the qualification and the process required to earn them. They can only store data tospecific fields as defined by the standard and therefore are more suited tosimple ‘badge-style’ achievements. The data is embedded into an image which canbe downloaded and verified externally.
While they aren’t as secure or privacy-preserving as digital credentials, they are a simple, low-cost digital credentials solution.
