July 1, 2020
Smartrac, an Avery Dennison company launched its NFC Pro series to empower brands and retailers to beat counterfeiting and deliver customer experiences at more secure levels - made possible through “one-time password” authentication. The new Circus™ Tamper Loop Pro inlays and tags combine these capabilities with “digital seal” tamper detection, and introduce a new IC option.
Until recently, customers looking for maximum security NFC-based product authentication could choose between Circus Pro and Circus Pro Flex inlays and tags with two state-of-the-art IC options for each: NXP’s NTAG® 424 DNA IC and Smartrac's OTP IC, a white label chip developed and manufactured by a leading global IC vendor. Now, Smartrac extends this product line with Circus™ Tamper Loop Pro inlays and tags, and introduces a third IC option, the SIC43NT chip from Silicon Craft.
Leveraging its unique feature set enabled by its tamper-loop design and cryptographic capabilities provided by its “Pro” level IC, Circus Pro Tamper Loop targets a wide array of NFC-based applications in highly secure product authentication to enable brand protection, consumer engagement, customer loyalty programs and protected content distribution. Typical applications areas of all PRO series inlays and tags comprise the authentication of pharmaceutical products and luxury goods from premium liquors to high-quality watches.
“By combining a digital seal functionality and advanced cryptographic capabilities, the new Circus Tamper Loop Pro inlays and tags make for a compelling offer for many customers looking for highly secure product authentication and brand protection, consumer engagement, customer loyalty programs or protected content distribution” — Dr. Juha Virtanen, Head of R&D at Avery Dennison Intelligent Labels
Digital seal plus one-time password
The new product’s tamper-loop feature provides an advanced digital seal functionality for smart packaging and brand protection. It exhibits one of two conditions: a closed loop shows that the packaging is sealed; while an open loop indicates an open package. Moreover, the tamper loop status is irreversibly stored in the IC memory and can be checked at the tap of a smartphone via a programmed on-chip URL. Secure authentication can be set to start creating one-time password values either before or after the loop has been tampered.
Circus Tamper Loop Pro comes with 144 Byte user memory with password protection, works with all NFC reading devices, and is compliant to both NFC Forum Type 2 specifications and the ISO 14 443 A standard.
Compelling offer for a wide range of customers
“By combining a digital seal functionality and advanced cryptographic capabilities, the new Circus Tamper Loop Pro inlays and tags make for a compelling offer for many customers looking for highly secure product authentication and brand protection, consumer engagement, customer loyalty programs or protected content distribution”, said Dr. Juha Virtanen, Head of R&D at Avery Dennison Intelligent Labels.
Three IC options for bespoke securityIn addition to the newly introduced SIC43NT chip from Silicon Craft, Smartrac’s Pro line of NFC products features two other ICs:NTAG 424 DNA ICs from NXP provide real-time tag and message authentication based on AES-128 encryption, on attack-resistant certified silicon. The Secure Unique NFC (SUN) authentication feature enables authentic, integrity protected and confidential data exchanges between tags and servers. Smartrac’s OTP IC generates one-time password values based on HMAC (Hash-based Message Authentication Codes) as published by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF RFC 4226). To comply with the greatest possible array of individual customer requirements, all IC options support a choice of digital verification services for secure product authentication and the delivery of exclusive digital content bags, etc. in hospitals, doctors’ surgeries, laboratories and pharmacies. RFID solutions can provide that visibility, and effectively support otherwise labor-intensive and error-prone restocking processes for medication trays and carts. Integrating RFID into pharmaceutical products helps improve patient safety by enabling more accurate tracking and authentication of medication through the entire supply chain, with the goal of reducing error rates to nearly zero. |
For COVID-19 control and reliable testing, authentic testing kits and personal protective equipment (PPE) are truly vital. Together with blockchain startup SUKU, Smartrac developed a digital verification solution to securely authenticate healthcare equipment and provide supply chain transparency.
Surgical instruments are a challenge for today’s RFID technology: made of stainless steel, they are delicate, and are sterilized at extreme temperatures (up to 121°C/250°F). Tiny, super-high frequency tags (SHF, 5.8 GHz) are needed to create a digital copy of the sterile goods cycle.
Pharmaceutical and medical goods are one of the most sensitive product groups worldwide, which means that any product tracking and management system must be completely reliable against theft, fraud or counterfeiting. Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co., one of Korea’s largest pharmaceutical companies, employs RFID to increase efficiency, monitor product movements, and help carry out government-regulated quality management.