Secure Track & Trace
Traceability can help protect a supply chain from theft and counterfeiting, but can also open up companies to different security issues.
Using QR codes for track and trace means always trusting that the code is legitimate.
Web domain names can expire if a constant vigil is not kept. This can sometimes make for an embarrassing situation for a company using QR codes for marketing stunts, but a serious situation if web sites change, if the ownership of the domain name is lost, or if the domain or URL is no longer accessible. At best, packages have a series of useless marks on them - at worst, the encoded URL can lead the device to malware.
Pretend the QR code below is a sticker on a package. This QR code is to be scanned at every point in a supply chain. It supposedly opens up a web-based application that will automatically log the package’s progress along the supply chain, with a handheld or fixed mounted device providing location and other information needed to complete the entry.
Go ahead, scan it. It’s a QR code…it does what we say it does…right?
For as helpful and easy as QR codes are, they absolutely lack security. When someone scans one, they are doing so on the faith and trust in who affixed the code there - or trust that the code wasn’t replaced at some point.
Track and trace codes can be copied.
Whether it’s a QR code, a barcode, or some other 1D or 2D mark - it may be legitimate and be tied to a legitimate system that will tell that the code is for a legitimate product.
But, what if the packaging and codes on the packaging are simply copied, and counterfeit products are distributed in that packaging? How would anybody know the difference?
For successful supply chain management, an accurate track and trace system is critical. It is important to know the history and status of a product from the raw material stage to its use by an end user, in other words its life cycle.
There are a number of very good solutions for providing the information, on a timely basis, to assure a successful traceability program. Today, most incorporate electronic data collection. These include 1D and 2D symbols (bar codes), and RFID.
While these traceability solutions provide necessary information regarding an item's journey through the manufacturing process, and beyond, they do not offer authentication for detecting when counterfeit components and products have entered the supply chain.
There is, however, a technology that has been proven, by several major companies, to detect fraudulent components and products.
GlobalAutoID member iTRACE Technologies specializes in Brand Protection and Product Security. Their unique patented technology enables our customers to police their brands, prevent diversion, cut-off the grey market supply, and easily identify counterfeiting.
With iTRACE Technologies, another level is added to track and trace that provides the confidence of credible authentication. Testing by independent groups has proven that with iTRACE Technologies fake parts, products, and even documents, are detected near-perfectly.