Technology

Technology that gives every product a verifiable identity.

Product authentication rests on a small number of core principles: give the product a secure identity, examine it reliably, and evaluate the result consistently. Here is how those principles fit together.

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The authentication model

Authentication is a chain of trust.

Every authentication system — whatever its specific technology — connects a physical product to a trustworthy answer. Each layer depends on the one before it.

Strength comes from the chain as a whole: an identity that is difficult to copy, a capture step that is reliable in real conditions, and infrastructure that evaluates results consistently.

This layered model describes product authentication in general terms. It is not a description of the proprietary design of Authentic Systems technology.

Fig. 02 — Authentication stackL1 → L5

L1
Product
The physical item a manufacturer produces and a consumer ultimately buys.
L2
Authentication marker
A security feature or identity element applied to the product or its packaging.
L3
Capture
An authorized mechanism examines the marker — for example, through optical imaging.
L4
Verification infrastructure
Systems that receive what was captured and evaluate it consistently.
L5
Authenticity result
A clear outcome returned to the person checking the product.

Core principles

Six principles behind product authentication.

Select a principle to see how it contributes to establishing and verifying authenticity.

Principle 01

Secure product identification

Every authentication process begins with identity.

A product, or its packaging, is associated with an identity that distinguishes it as a genuine item from its manufacturer. The goal is an identity that is meaningful to check and difficult to fabricate.

Close inspection of an electronic component under a work lamp

Fig. 03 — Verification at the point of need

Where verification happens

Wherever authenticity is in question.

Authentication is most valuable when it can be checked at the points where products change hands. The verification points relevant to each manufacturer depend on its products and distribution model.

01
Production
Confirming that authentication elements are present as products leave the line.
02
Distribution
Checking stock as it is received, stored and dispatched by distributors.
03
Retail
Giving retailers confidence in the products they place on their shelves.
04
Consumer
Allowing the end customer to confirm a product is genuine before using it.

Principles in public. Implementation in confidence.

Publishing the detailed workings of anti-counterfeiting technology would help the people it is designed to stop. This page explains general principles only. Technical discussions about specific applications take place directly with manufacturers, under appropriate confidentiality.

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