UNICRI Report on Anti-Illicit Trade Technologies

The United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) has released its ‘Technology and Security: Countering Criminal Infiltrations in the Legitimate Supply Chain’ report.

The report examines the role technology can play to help combat the threat of organized crime infiltrating the legitimate supply chain. The report takes a comprehensive and nuanced look at how a multi-faceted approach that includes technology can provide an effective solution to this complex issue.

The report examines in depth five criminal threat scenarios:

• The agro-food mafia

• Illicit trafficking of precious metals 

• Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing 

• Trafficking in counterfeit and substandard pesticides, and

• Fuel fraud.

Within each case study, UNICRI explains the risk scenario and then examines the impact several different technologies could have on the issue.

The technologies examined cover a wide array of innovative products that include several advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, big data analytics, cutting edge authentication mechanisms, nuclear analytical techniques, protected traceability systems and multi-layered approaches that link various elements to provide increased protection.

The report details the advantages each technology has for legitimate stakeholders seeking to protect their products and the additional tools it provides to law enforcement to investigate and counter organized criminal activities.

To develop this report, first UNICRI held a three-day workshop with international agencies, law enforcement, industry and technology providers to develop realistic threat scenarios and brainstorm forward looking technology proposals. UNICRI then collected technology proposals from security experts, academia, industry and international organizations through a call for technology submissions. Finally, UNICRI worked with security experts, academia and industry to assess the proposed technology solutions.

The report highlights that technology should not be seen as the sole solution to mitigate supply chain risks, but rather as a tool within a comprehensive enforcement regime to increase human capabilities and skills.

The report can almost be seen as a ‘worst-case-scenario’ for any technology solution, since the case studies assume that criminal organizations have infiltrated the legitimate supply chain by, for example, taking over a legitimate manufacturer or by controlling a legitimate distributor/seller and, through this, have gained access to anti-counterfeiting solutions, such as authentic packaging.

But besides the challenges, many of the proposed technologies provide several kinds of protection, especially when paired with robust enforcement mechanisms, such as independent checking of authentication features by law enforcement or consumer verification abilities.

In addition, the report highlights several key learnings across the different scenarios: 

• The combination of overt and covert features with a strong unique ‘digital’ identity provides the strongest overall protection.

• Track and trace technologies have the ability to overcome threats of illicit trade even in supply chains infiltrated by organized crime.

• Codes used need to be 1) non-reproductible, which means they cannot be produced without cryptographic keys; 2) tamper-evident, so as to facilitate the identification of any manipulation attempt; and 3) easily read and verified by consumers and law enforcement through visual identification or scanning apps.

• The addition of other cutting-edge technologies, such as blockchain, artificial intelligence and big data can add significant robustness to security technologies, since it makes data less prone to manipulation, and increases transparency and auditability.

But the report also acknowledges several limitations of supply chain security solutions:

• Many technologies are packaging dependent, which still allows for the risk of counterfeit or substandard product to be distributed in genuine packaging, especially in compromised supply chains.

• Overt solutions can be sufficiently replicated to trick consumers. This can be overcome by adding covert features or scanning features for additional authentication.

• Consumer education and awareness of security and authentication features is key to maximize the protective features of technology solutions.

• Interoperability of systems is important. While it is difficult to achieve, once initial interoperability is established it enables the integration and layering of various technology solutions.

UNICRI’s report is very thoughtful and detailed and a recommended reading for industry, government and technology providers. The full UNICRI report is available here.

Sven Bergmann is the founder and CEO of Venture Global and advises brand owners, technology providers and governments on anti-counterfeit strategies, programs and technologies. Send your comments to [email protected].