V-ID: Blockchain Powered Validation to End Document Fraud

The typical organization loses five percent of revenues to fraud each year, according to a study by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Unfortunately, fraud in a business can go undetected for a long time and is often hard to uncover. The following three features of blockchain can help make business networks less susceptible to fraud.

Blockchain is distributed

Blockchain is a type of distributed digital ledger containing transaction data that is shared across a peer-to-peer network and continually reconciled. There is no central administrator or centralized version, so there is no single point of failure. Instead, management and authorization is spread across the network, so there is no obvious place for someone to instigate a fraud scheme.

Blockchain is immutable

Transactions recorded on blockchain are immutable because they cannot be deleted or changed. Before a “block” of transactions can be appended to the blockchain, network participants must agree the transaction is valid through a process called consensus. The block is then given a timestamp, secured through cryptography and linked to the previous block in the chain. Though you can create a new transaction to change the state of an asset, it will simply be added to the chain, and the original record will still be accessible. So, by using blockchain you can see the provenance of an asset, including where it came from, where it’s been, and who’s had ownership of it.

Blockchain can be permissioned

Businesses deal with a lot of confidential data; they can’t let just anyone have access to it. There must be some way to ensure outsiders can’t get in to the network and insiders can’t corrupt the records. This is where permissions come into play. But unlike the previous features I’ve discussed, not all blockchain networks are permissioned. However, permissioned networks can be great for fraud prevention because they restrict who is allowed to participate and in what capacity. Members of a permissioned network must be invited and validated before they can contribute.

As one of the top operational risks of 2017, fraud isn’t a problem you can ignore. In addition to being costly, it can decrease employee morale and create an unstable business environment as well as undermine your business and consumer relationships. Use blockchain to take a stand against fraud in your business network.

If you’re interested in how blockchain is being used to prevent fraud in real industries, check out V-ID, a project aims to tackle the problem of Document fraud, using blockchain powered validation.

About V-ID

V-ID uses blockchain technology to end all document fraud. The V-ID validation service allows organizations to validate the identity of their documents in a worldwide decentralized blockchain. Those documents can then be verified, so recipients know that the content of the document is unaltered and exactly as originally published. V-ID's goal is to enable individuals and organizations to safely share their own official cryptographically signed documents and prevent the distribution of wrongfully manipulated content.

As of now, there is no standard for checking the authenticity of documents. To some extent, Adobe and other companies have tried to tackle this problem but the solution that V-ID offers is more efficient. V-ID provides blockchain-powered, on-demand, secure verification. V-ID uses the digital fingerprint of a document and locks it in a blockchain transaction that is then broadcast to thousands of servers across the planet in a decentralized manner. V-ID does not save a copy of a validated file and therefore easily complies with the GDPR guidelines. With V-ID, it is impossible to alter the content of any digital file, without losing the verified status of the file.

V-ID’s platform has usability in various sectors where it can be used to validate files, like diploma’s, certificates, legal documents, audit trails. Moving further, it has a huge market in terms of validating security footage, database exports, anything as long as it is a digital file. Recipients can verify the file’s integrity in 5 seconds with just an internet connection. This combination of security and convenience was simply not possible before blockchain technology existed.

How It Works?

The V-ID users are divided into two categories, the creators who create the data and the receivers who will receive the data and can verify it at any given time. Once a creator registers a file in V-ID, this file’s authenticity can then be verified by the recipient. On the path from the publisher to the recipient, there are lots of opportunities for the file to lose its integrity. A file that is created in a typical business process goes through lots of devices, third-party networks, passes numerous people with access to it and is copied multiple times. V-ID’s validation locks the fingerprint of the file in the blockchain before it starts the journey to the recipient. The verification process enables anyone to check the integrity of the file anytime during its journey. V-ID does not save a copy of the file and thus compiles with the GDPR guidelines.

Conclusion

The main aim of V-ID is not only to eliminate the epidemic of fake documents but also emerge as de-facto and a globally accepted standard of ensuring authenticity. The working of V-ID is very simple and does not require much technical expertise. Its easy usability is what makes it stand out and it can be used by anyone from the comfort of their homes. It is already being used by companies such as Airbus Defense & Space, Dutch college HBO Drechtsteden, Vitrumnet, ESHRE and Wildradar.