IS EVERYTHING GOING WELL WITH DIGITAL IMMUNITY CERTIFICATES APPLIED WITH QR CODE TECHNOLOGY IN PANDEMIC? A FRAME OF REFERENCE FOR RESEARCH OF AN NFT-BASED SOLUTION

Abstract

With the continuous deepening and upgrading of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), the development prospects of digital technology and blockchain technology have gradually expanded. Undoubtedly, the COVID-19 pandemic has provided a great opportunity for further promotion of the digital transformation (DT) of society. The shift in social security from physical form to digital form, and the establishing of digital form logic into an emergency as this pandemic, which was unprecedented, have not only affected the normal development of society, but also greatly changed the rules of social security in the process of DT. On the contrary, information security and social security are weaker than at any time in people's memory. And this pandemic caused by COVID-19 and its variations have exacerbated the existing both digital information security issues and challenges facing social security. It is understandable, therefore, that to improve the security of digital information to enhance globally stable social order and economic progress in both the current pandemic and the post-pandemic era be of great urgency. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively discuss the potential risk of digital immunity certificates applied with QR code technology and afterwards provide a frame of reference for research of a non-fungible token (NFT)-based solution to them.

Full text

International Journal of Advance and Innovative Research
Volume 8, Issue 4 (VI) October - December 2021
220
ISSN 2394 - 7780
IS EVERYTHING GOING WELL WITH DIGITAL IMMUNITY CERTIFICATES APPLIED WITH
QR CODE TECHNOLOGY IN PANDEMIC? A FRAME OF REFERENCE FOR RESEARCH OF AN
NFT-BASED SOLUTION
Le Chen
University for foreigners "Dante Alighieri", Via del Torrione 95, Reggio Calabria, 89125, Italy
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9672-9300
ABSTRACT
With the continuous deepening and upgrading of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), the development
prospects of digital technology and blockchain technology have gradually expanded. Undoubtedly, the COVID-
19 pandemic has provided a great opportunity for further promotion of the digital transformation (DT) of
society. The shift in social security from physical form to digital form, and the establishing of digital form logic
into an emergency as this pandemic, which was unprecedented, have not only affected the normal development
of society, but also greatly changed the rules of social security in the process of DT. On the contrary,
information security and social security are weaker than at any time in people's memory. And this pandemic
caused by COVID-19 and its variations have exacerbated the existing both digital information security issues
and challenges facing social security. It is understandable, therefore, that to improve the security of digital
information to enhance globally stable social order and economic progress in both the current pandemic and
the post-pandemic era be of great urgency. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively discuss the potential
risk of digital immunity certificates applied with QR code technology and afterwards provide
a frame of reference for research of a non-fungible token (NFT) - based solution to them.
Keywords: QR code, Blockchain, NFT-based solution, Pandemic, Information security, Social security
INTRODUCTION
Since December 2019, the unexpected outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought huge challenges to all
walks of life in society. Some scholars pointed out “The impact of COVID-19 will probably be greater than that
of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003” (Ting et al., 2020, p. 459). According to WHO statistics,
globally, as of 5:15pm CEST, 30 September 2021, there have been 233,136,147 confirmed cases of COVID-19,
including 4,771,408 deaths (Covid19.who.int). Studies show that every year the average number of deaths are
almost 470, 000 in the world due to complications from seasonal influenza (flu) viruses (Worldometers.info).
The evidence thus is the number of deaths caused by COVID-19 and its variations is more than ten times higher
than the data before this pandemic. Shocking aside, we cannot help but make such a conclusion: Indeed, the
global pandemic of this time is a global public health emergency of the most difficult prevention and control
since World War II, with the fastest spread, the widest range of infections, the largest number of deaths, and the
farthest-reaching influence. On the one hand, countries and regions are anxiously responding to the pandemic,
because it is not only repeated but continuously mutated. On the other hand, they are also racking their brains on
measures to restore economic and people’s freedom. At the macro level, the economic growth rate of many
countries is not positive at all (Bbc.com), while at the micro level, people's economic income has fallen sharply
compared to before the pandemic, and people's request to restore the right of survival and liberty is
overwhelming. While the world is in the wave of DT, the raging pandemic has added a new puzzle to issues of
information security and social security in digital transformation, but at the same time it has also pushed DT
into an accelerated development track.
After many countries have successively vaccinated the people, they have also considered launching "vaccine
passports". Take China, which is the first to enter the state of epidemic prevention and control, as an example.
The “health code” (HC) is widely used in China as an effective means of pandemic prevention and detection.
The HC serves as a personal health certificate and travel certificate during the pandemic prevention period. The
China Electronics Standardization Institute ('CESI') announced, on 30 April 2020, that the several national
standards on Personal Health Information Codes (PHIC) had released by State Administration for Market
Regulation and the National Standards Committee (Dataguidance.com). The implementation of this series of
national standards is of great significance for the collection, processing, and use of private information of
people during the pandemic, and can realize the unification of the code system, the unification of the display
mode and the unification of the data content of the personal health information code. This also means that the
national health code is expected to achieve one-yard pass.

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The world's largest COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the history of the human being is underway. On
January 26, 2021, the ‘Guardian’ stated that with the advancement of vaccine research and production,
European countries have started vaccination plans, but the vaccination schedule of EU countries varies greatly,
and the overall schedule lags that of the United Kingdom and the United States. One of the reasons is that the
AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines successively purchased by the European Union have been
suspected of being related to the formation of blood clots, which has shaken the public's confidence in the safety
of the vaccine campaign. But this has not prevented the EU from implementing its plan to restart the EU with
the introduction of green passes (The Guardian.com). 'Returning to move' during the pandemic has obvious
impacts not only on personal freedom but also on the economy of Europe. Then, the European Commission
Press Center announced on 17 March 2021 that the European Commission made a proposal for Digital Green
Certificates
1
(DGC
2
) (Ec.europa.eu). Two fundamental information were noticed. One information is the so
described “… to create a Digital Green Certificate to facilitate safe free movement inside the EU”, the other is
as detailed below, "It will include a QR code to ensure security and authenticity of the certificate"
(Ec.europa.eu). From the first point, one can know the geographical area of the use of the green pass, and the
latter point explains the manner of the green pass. Accordingly, “from the European Commission, the WHO,
and the Biden Administration” the call for the launch of the green pass is getting louder and louder (Siddarth et
al., 2021, p. 1). However, at the same time, this has also aroused some doubts and thoughts. But, finally, the EU
Digital COVID Certificate Regulation entered application on 01 July 2021(Ec.europa.eu).
It is worth noting that the above-mentioned country and region have used the HC and the DGC. In this article
they are collectively referred to as digital immunity certificates
3
. As the COVID-19 situation in many countries
is gradually brought under control and the number of confirmed cases has also markedly declined overall, the
use of health pass to achieve safe cross-border movement of people is becoming a practical issue for many
countries and regions around the world. The digital immunity certificates of both China and EU are applied QR
code technology as another pandemic prevention and control method to cooperate with the COVID-19 vaccines.
At an important moment when QR code technology is got involved in current most important global issue and
applied as a line of defense for social security, the implementation of the HC and the DGC based on this
technology means that the people and governments have unprecedented trust in this technology. however, is
everything going well with digital immunity certificates applied with QR code technology in pandemic? With
media reports on the illegal activities of forging the HC and the DGC, the issues of social security caused by the
imperfections of digital technology (the current QR code technology) has become increasingly prominent. In
other words, if the QR code technical support is not perfect, are there other feasible solutions to improve it?
The rest of this study is constructed as follows. Main body is composed by literature review (Section 1),
research methodology (Section 2), research results (Section 3) and discussion (Section 4). Finally, the study
ends with a conclusion and references.
1. LITERATURE REVIEW
The full name of QR Code is Quick Response Code. In practice, sometimes it is also called quick code.
Just as its name implies, it embodies a kind of quickest, fastest paradigm. And it can hold more types of data
than basic barcodes. Therefore, it is admired by the fast-paced and multi-sourced modern society. QR code was
created by Denso
4
in 1994 (Soon, 2008, p. 60). Due to its ease of use, there is a considerable number of its
application (Shah & Shah, 2014, p. 22). In the past two decades, QR codes have become widespread in a much
broader context, as QR code payment (Liu et al., 2021), Wi-Fi access (Narayanan, 2012), Website login
1
Further information is available at: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_1181.
2
Further information is available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52021PC0130.
3
Digital immunity certificates, referred to as immunity passports or immunity cards, are a form of
identification to help mark people who have been infected with COVID-19, recovered, and developed
antibodies (including vaccinated information) to the disease. Further information is available at:
https://www.cnet.com/health/covid-19-immunity-certificates-everything-to-know-about-this-controversial-
solution/#:~:text=What%20are%20immunity%20certificates%3F%20Immunity%20certificates%2C%20someti
mes%20referred,COVID-19%2C%20recovered%20and%20developed%20antibodies%20to%20the%20disease.
4
Denso Wave is the Japanese automotive company which is one of major Toyota group companies. And it was
approved as ISO/ IEC18004 in 2000. Further information is available in Soon (2008) and Fava (2020), also
https://www.qrcode.com/en/

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(Narayanan, 2012), Product tracing (Mishra et al., 2020), Catering and related services (Borovyk & Kokhan,
2015), Ticket processing and business card (Soon, 2008; Shah & Shah, 2014), Social media platforms and
related services (Damle et al., 2020), Electronic authentication (Gandhi et al., 2014), and recently digital
vaccine certificates (Siddarth et al., 2021) due to a world wide range of COVID-19 pandemic. However, in the
digital era, the digital immunity certificates based on QR code technology may not be so perfect. In fact, the
security issues of this 2D message carriers with significant information have already been raised by many
scholars. Narayanan made an exposition of “attack via QR codes” (Narayanan, 2012, p. 70). As Ahuja stated in
her research (2014), “QR Codes can be used for attacking both the human interaction and the automated
systems” (p. 3878). Likewise, Damle and the co-authors in their studies also stated how QR codes can be used
to attack human interaction and automated systems (Damle et al., 2020). All research would help raise
awareness of the issues of information security and social security where survive flaws in existing HC and DGC
based on QR code technology.
As well as the ancestry of blockchain technology has also injected new impetus into the technological
transformation and progression of digital technologies. Thus, the field of digital technologies also stands in need
of the sustain of blockchain technology for its higher security features, such as Decentralization, Persistency,
Anonymity and Auditability (Zheng et al., 2018, p. 357). Since 2020, the NFT economy has grown rapidly.
There are also many studies on the application value of NFT technology, i.e., in the field of art (Trautman,
2021; Kugler, 2021), in the financial sector (Musan et al., 2020), in the tourism industry (Mofokeng & Fatima,
2018), in the public events and places (Regner et al., 2019; Fernandez, 2021). All the existing works have
identified the great potential application of NFT technology. However, people's understanding of NFT may still
stay in some of the previously mentioned known areas, but the application potential of NFT is much broader. In
the era of normalization of the pandemic and even in the post-pandemic era, the importance of health factors for
world restoring in international personnel exchanges will become more prominent. Therefore, unforgeable
immunity certificates will play a greater role in promoting the health, safety, and orderly exchanges of
transnational personnel to provide a solid guarantee for international citizens to "walk the world". Thus, the
manuscript presents an analysis of problems or flaws of QR code technology which is applied in existing HC
and DGC. Moreover, it also proposes herein the potential solution based on NFT technology. Put briefly, this
study evaluates the potential solution by embedding a non-fungible token (NFT) technology (Wang et al., 2021;
Chohan, 2021) into the QR code to effectively overcome the uncertainties of authentication (Aini et al., 2020) in
meeting the needs of ensuring social security in battling against COVID-19. There is the challenge of course for
NFT (Wang et al., 2021).
2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
After having identified the research issues, the present study approaches research with Quantitative analysis. In
this article, we have attempted to review the prior art in the field of both QR code technology and NFT
technology, to clarify the flaws of QR code technology in existing immunity certificates and evaluate the
potential application possibilities of NFT technology in solving related issues. To be specific, an evaluation of
the techniques of existing immunity certificates development related the information and society security will
be carried out. If there are still loopholes in them, is there any solution? Through a review of previous research
and based on existing gaps the study evaluates the applicable space of an NFT-based solution to
immunity certificates.
3. RESEARCH RESULTS
3.1 QR Code and security concerns
Among many types of 2D barcodes, commonly used code systems are QR Code, Data Matrix, Cool-Data-Maxi,
Aztec, Upcode, Trillcode, Quickmark, Shotcode, mXode, Beetagg, etc (Shah & Shah, 2014, p. 22). Take China
and the EU as examples. The immunity certificates they put into use all use QR code technology
1
. It is a type of
2D matrix QR code with the feature that allow multi-directional scanning (Ahuja, 2014, p. 3878; Tiwari, 2016,
p. 39; Shah & Shah, 2014, p. 22). And it has much higher data density than ordinary barcodes (Soon, 2008, p.
60; Shah & Shah, 2014, p. 22). The most popular matr ix QR code
2
nowadays is QR code. As the core
perception technology of the Internet of Things and the important information entry technology of the Internet,
QR code has developed rapidly and have gradually penetrated various fields of economy and social life. The
1
QR code can “contain 7,000 digits of characters at maximum including Kanji characters (Chinese characters
used in Japan)”. Further information is available in (Soon, 2008).

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digital immunity certificates applied with QR code technology are seen as highly prospective as the main
symbol for prevention and control of the pandemic and for return to mobility.
With the official launch of the digital immunity certificates of both China and EU. This means that these digital
immunity certificates will serve as a certificate for free entry and exit respectively in China and EU. They
contain personal information, including vaccination, recovery from previous infections, test results, etc. Since
the pandemic, after the vaccines, all have brought great hope from being proposed to being adopted. In the
context of the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccinations of all countries in succession, vaccine
passports are imperative. While stepping up the launch of their national vaccine passports, some countries have
begun to actively promote the international recognition of vaccine passports. However, on January 30, 2021,
according to a report from the well-known Chinese media Sohu, certain mobile application store has a software
that can simulate the HC status of various places based on personal needs, which is obviously suspected of
illegal and endangering public safety (Sohu.com). At present, the international epidemic prevention and control
situation is still grim. The application of QR code technology to digital immunity certificates is only the first
step. This fake simulated HC App incident is a powerful wake-up call. Coincidentally, on July 3, 2021,
according to Reuters, “Italian police said on Saturday they had broken up a number of online schemes offering
to sell fake European Union digital COVID-19 status certificates or purported coronavirus vaccines"
(Reuters.com).
Not surprisingly, there already exist certain kind of security problems related QR code technology (Zhang et al.,
2017, p. 88). So far, in general, there are two main types of risks involved in QR codes:
 The main form is QR-code-initiated phishing, which is a track in form of fraudulent activity that obtains
the user's credentials through deception by scanning of the QR code (Vidas, 2013, p. 1; Ahuja, 2014, p.
3879). After the user scans the QR code, the phishing website (including fake and malicious online
advertisement) is automatically opened. Then it will defraud users to fill in their account numbers and
passwords, eventually stealing personal information and even property (in the case of performing a
payment). In this case, as the phishing website is similar looking to the original one, users do not have
systematic information technology knowledge, thus they usually don’t check those URLs carefully. In
addition, the inside content of QR code cannot be distinguished with the naked eye. All these have led to a
general lack of security awareness of QR codes among the public. While phishing brings considerable
profits to criminals, it also greatly harms personal privacy (including property) and more importantly,
causes serious damage to the social security.
 The other is virus implantation. When the user completes the scanning, the malicious download web
page is opened, and then the user’s scanning device (as the QR code reader/scanner) is implanted with
viruses such as Trojans. In this way, with the use of command injections, criminals can gain full control
over the information in the user’s scanning device (mostly Smartphone) like contacts, Emails, messages etc
(Ahuja, 2014, p. 3879). Theoretically, each digital immunity certificate should contain the unique and
authentic private information used as prevention of COVID-19. But the issues of QR code full of forged
information or insecure factors will inevitably damage personal information, health and safety, and the
safety of the entire society. Therefore, to conduct the research, this study reviews the loopholes of QR code
technology which is adopted by existing the digital immunity certificates in both China and the EU. Herein
the main factors that lead to the vulnerabilities of QR code technology are summarized as follows:
 Factor 1: QR code technical standards have not yet been unified. Denso has fully disclosed the relevant
standards of QR codes and has released the patent into the public domain with the aim of benefiting society
(Soon, 2008, p. 60). Soon stated (2008), QR code “can be used by anybody free of charge” (p. 60). All
kinds of online software to generate codes are available everywhere (Damle et al., 2020, p. 90). Besides,
according Soon (2008), “Data structure standard is not prerequisite for current usages” (p. 60). Thus, in
2015, QR codes promulgated a new technical standard (ISO/IEC 18004:2015
1
) and began to charge patent
fees (Iso.org). However, there are still 2000 technical standards available for free use in the market. This is
also the main factor that causes the QR code application to be basically out of control and disorder. With
the rapid development of technology, there are many lawbreakers regard it as fertile ground for grabbing
illegal benefits. This is also, nowadays, one of the great challenges of existing applications of QR code
technology facing by China.
1
ISO/IEC 18004:2015 defines the requirements for the symbology known as QR Code. Further information is
available at https://www.iso.org/standard/62021.html

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 Factor 2: Lack of regulatory mechanisms in related fields. In addition, in the current chaotic situation
of inconsistent technical standards, there is a lack of unified supervision of QR code generation and reading
tools. Thus, it is imperative to introduce a set of international and effective supervisory mechanisms on
these issues. Take the EU's DGC as an example. Firstly, issuance. As Narayanan stated (2012), “However,
since it is easy to modify the content stored in the 2-D code, we must verify whether the identifier written
in the 2-D code is indeed issued by the authorized organization.” (p. 69). But, according to the proposal for
regulation (Document 52021PC0130), “the ‘Digital Green Certificate’ framework should not require the
setting up and maintena nce of a database at EU level” (Eur-lex.europa.eu). On the one hand, the European
Union has given all countries the power to safeguard sensitive DGC information. On the other hand, it has
also increased the inconsistency of DGC. Secondly, verification. We must objectively and rationally face
the massive disclosure of personal information that was staged due to the emergency of the pandemic.
Obviously, the European Commission is soberly aware of this, as can be seen from the proposal for
regulation (Document 52021PC0130), " a very high level of data protection should be ensured, and data
minimization principles should be preserved" (Eur-lex.europa.eu). But, how to ensure that in the
verification process, prevent the illegal recording of personal information, and then be sold, and eventually
be stolen? Finally, acceptance by other Member States. The electronic version of DGC in English is
undoubtedly the inevitable trend of consistency in globally free movement during the pandemic and post-
pandemic period. However, since the EU assigns the rights and responsibilities of DGC production and
distribution to various countries, this may cause many inconsistencies, as after all, the relevant laws and
regulations of various countries are different. However, can DGC in electronic form ensure the safety and
reliability of cross-border personal information data? What is even more uncertain is that we cannot predict
how long this pandemic will last? Even if it is temporarily over, will it return soon? Thus, it is necessary to
use more rigorous technological means to better protect personal information security and social security
around the world. The Figure 1 shows a general overview of the evolution of QR code technology.
Figure 1. Evolution of QR code technology
Source: Author’s own elaboration based on (Soon, 2008)
The above factors may cause a huge impact indirectly to the security issues of QR code technology application.
Besides, from many scholars’ point of view, various strategies against security issues related to QR codes have
addressed, i.e., user’s pre-check, QR code reader alertness, digital signatures embedding in QR code,
“simultaneous encryption and obscurity of data”, invention of QR code readers with the more rigorous reading
functions (Ahuja, 2014, p. 3879). But in the fast-paced society, who has enough vigilance to watch out for the
countless QR codes. As the security of the information contained in the QR code cannot be recognized from the
outside. In another word, it can be accessed easier and automatically by scan. Although the wave of 4IR has
greatly promoted the popularization of information technology knowledge, but according to Ahuja (2014),
“This information isn’t present in human readable form hence an individual cannot anticipate whether this is a
valid information or a maliciously manipulated code” (p. 3878). The fundamental and important thing is these
proposals are all external remedies for QR code technology endogenous factors, in other words, the symptoms
are not the root cause. Therefore, the attack or forgery issues should be solved fundamentally from the
endogenous aspect. To some extent, the information security and social security all around the world could

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depend upon the perfection of QR code technology in the crucial moment of both current pandemic and post-
pandemic.
3.2 An NFT-based solution
In the process of DT, blockchain technology has become a hot spot of social concern. But, probably, NFT,
which is rapidly heating up in the world does not seem to be as familiar to all people as blockchain. Because of
this, it is necessary to explain the concept of NFT, and then go to reality, namely, the proposal of application of
this approach. Obviously, from its concept, its primary feature is non-fungible. The proposed solution makes
use of the NFT, which is the abbreviation of Non-Fungible Tokens
1
. To better interpret this substantive
property, we might compare it to the mainstream digital currencies on the market today such as
Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), which are becoming
more mature. They are homogeneous, but their issuers are different. Take BTC as an example, there is no
difference between each BTC, thus they can be swapped and divided with facility. The concept of NFT
originated from a token standard of Ethereum, and its purpose is to distinguish each token through a
distinguishable sign (Wang et al., 2021, p. 1; Kugler, 2021, p. 19). While a conceptual framework for the
determinants of the distinctive features of NFT are: Each NFT has an original and unique identifier. More
importantly, it is verifiable. And the third point it is not interchangeable for each other. is that its smallest unit is
1 which is doomed to its indivisibility. And the last point is it has independent value. Why the NFT approach
will probably have a crucial impact on the existing digital immunity certificates applied with QR code
technology? They will be discussed in more detail as follows:
i.Original and unique identifier. From the literal meaning, it can be known that the typical characteristic of this
kind of token is uniqueness. This is also one of its important characteristics different from other
cryptocurrencies (Wang et al., 2021, p. 1). It can be applied to virtual/digital properties, which will possess a
unique identification. Thus, to our knowledge, NFT has been used in some specific applications, especially in
the field of art. Unsurprisingly, Kugler stated (2021), “the most lucrative auction for a piece of art from a living
artist happened in 2021” (p. 19). This proves that the value of virtual items with NFT as the underlying
technology has been recognized by the market and demonstrated its security. In fact, from artistic value
perspective, every artwork should be unique and unforgeable. However, unlike the art of circulation, our private
information is priceless. In addition, the feature of NFT technology is fully in line with the characteristics of
human beings, that is, having a unique id and gene. Digital immunity certificates which applied with QR code
technology include all private privacy including vaccine information should be regarded as personal properties
and should be uniquely identifiable. During the process of prevention and control of the pandemic and
economic recovery, the digital immunity certificates which applied with QR code technology has played a vital
role. Therefore, personal information security and social security governance issues are extremely important.
The prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic is at a critical moment, and details will determine the
ultimate victory. An NFT approach proposed to be applied to the existing digital immunity certificates which
could provide an effective protection solution to guarantee their originality and uniqueness during the process
from issuance to verification (domestic or cross-border). To this point, it has performed the protection of the
user's ownership of digital property by using “an underlying distributed ledger for records” (Wang et al., 2021,
p. 5).
ii. Verifiability. This echoes the above feature. Namely, in theory, NFT can be applied to any field that
requires unique authentication. To be specific, the NFT (including its token metadata and its ownership)
can be publicly verified (Wang et al., 2021, p. 7). Accordingly, NFT technology is an effective solution to
solve the issues of information security and social security that occurred during the prevention and control
of this pandemic.
iii. Not interchangeability. This makes NFT inherently anti-counterfeiting feature. Likewise, NFT is “cannot
be exchanged like-for-like (equivalently, non-fungible)” (Wang et al., 2021, p. 2). The fraud of digital
immunity certificates which applied with QR code technology appeared on the Internet (both China and
EU). It has violated personal interests and at the same time has seriously disrupted the social security order.
Correspondingly, this characteristic can generate potential impact on tampering and counterfeiting of
personal information.
1
Token is called "pass certificate" and has the attributes of property rights, equity, and currency. The English of
the pass is "Token", which is an encrypted digital certificate that can be circulated. It is a value certificate on the
blockchain, which can represent anything of value and realize the digitization of rights and interests. Further
information is available in (Liao & Shao, 2021; Wang et al., 2021).

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iv. Independent value. As everyone is an independent individual in this world, and everyone has a unique
value. No one can allow criminals to use his personal information (including in the digital immunity
certificates which applied with QR code technology) to arbitrarily grab illegal benefits and destroy one’s
own value. This feature is also consistent with the goal of protecting personal privacy and social security.
4. Discussion
Incidents of economic loss or disclosure of important information due to scanning of QR codes of unknown
origin or containing security risks such as Trojans and viruses have occurred from time to time. It can be said
that the QR code has become a new tool for criminals to carry out online fraud and spread harmful information.
With the occurrence of forgery of existing immunity certificates applied with QR code technology, the related
situation of information security cannot be ignored. Information security and social security incidents triggered
by QR codes have occurred from time to time, touching the nerves of the public. The inevitable issues have also
garnered notable attention from all society. Objectively speaking, the security problem of QR code needs to be
solved urgently. The elaborations in the Section 3 have demonstrated that the issues of existing digital
immunity certificates applied with QR code technology is related to information security and social security.
Thus, QR code still need to solve the underlying encryption problems. The endogenous technology is
considered a challenging task for restoring social normalization. Thus, an NFT-based technology suits the
requirements of information security and social security is proposed. As its series of advantageous features can
significantly reduce uncertainty. With the above analysis it can be inferred that the NFT technology provides
better solutions. It is necessary to look for related technical deficiencies through an all-round cooperation, and
constantly improve underlying encryption technology to protect the dignity and rights of individuals and the
social safety. However, technical issues of NFT such as scarcity still need to be resolved, but we also have
reason to believe that there will be more possibilities for NFT technology to protect personal information
security and social security in the future.
CONCLUSION
Put briefly, however, with the rapid spread of QR code, the related security issues have become increasingly
prominent. QR codes have become a new high-incidence area for personal information security and social
security. The study outlines the issues of digital immunity certificates applied with QR code technology, in the
meanwhile, proposes an endogenous NFT-based solution to them. It will bring an unlimited impact on both the
private security and public security of the whole society. The digital immunity certificates are closely related to
people’s lives, social public safety, and economic operation safety. As the pandemic is not over yet, a new
global health emergency may also be coming. Moreover, the use of QR code technology continues to expand
and the number of people continues to expand, thus, it is very necessary to improve the security related this
technology application, together with using unique technical standards and strengthening both regulations and
supervision. However, the technologies of NFT are still to furtherly develop (Wang et al., 2021, p. 1). The road
is far away to embrace the Continuously deepening of DT. As Taking the current COVID-19 as a lesson, the
direction of future research should be more people & human community-oriented.
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