Auditing and consulting giant Deloitte is partnering with Isreali company QEDIT to add privacy-improving zero-knowledge proof cryptography to its Eduscrypt platform.
Eduscrypt uses a blockchain system to securely log education and work credentials that may be used by organisations looking to submit, track, and confirm qualifications of potential staff.
The companies announced the partnership at the ZKProof Community Event in Amsterdam on October 29th, Monday.
According to the companies:
“Eduscrypt can be used to monitor professional qualifications, issue authentic and traceable certificates, manage personal education records, ensure regulatory compliance, and is customisable for different industry and organisational needs. Using blockchain technology, Eduscrypt enables organisations to trust in the authenticity of qualifications, reduce data errors, and provides a permissioned repository for qualifications to be shared within and across organisations.”
The addition of QEDIT’s feature to Eduscrypt, says Jonathan Rouach, CEO and Co-founder of QEDIT, “demonstrat(es) the far-reaching potential of zero-knowledge proof cryptography to transform processes across a myriad of industries.”
According to the relevant press release, zero-knowledge proof essentially limit the amount of data that can be accessed by a query to a “blockchain,” a type of encrypted and shared database:
“QEDIT’s protocol utilizes zero-knowledge proof cryptography to allow parties employing enterprise blockchains to record and authenticate the transfer of assets on a shared ledger without revealing any underlying, confidential information. Network members can verify the integrity of the proofs, but they cannot see who sent what, or how much, to whom.”
The tool can also help, “auditors to enable regulatory compliance,” while operating under enhanced privacy rules, the companies say.
Antonio Senatore, Chief Technology Officer of Deloitte’s EMEA Blockchain Lab, said Deloitte’s Educsrypt platform unifies verified credentials information on one platform:
“Academics and enterprises both stand to benefit hugely from leveraging blockchain technology — for most organisations validating, managing and recording the education qualifications of staff and prospective hires can be a very onerous and costly process, with regulatory fines for non-compliance.”
Senatore also praised the system’s purported privacy capacity:
“Integrating QEDIT’s Zero-Knowledge Proof privacy solution ensures that organisations can trust in the authenticity of qualifications, while preserving the full privacy of the underlying data, and upholding regulatory compliance.”