Making Authentication Fun

We all know what a challenge it is to get consumers to authenticate anything. With this in mind, Securikett has developed an anti-cloning security seal that brings the entertainment factor to product authentication.

The seal also provides an excellent example of how physical security features can work together with digital verification tools to create a multi-layered, tamper- evident solution.

The labels are printed with a serialised QR code, together with four symbols that look a lot like those that spin on a slot machine. The symbols are directly correlated with the QR code, so that when consumers scan the code with their smartphone or tablet, the exact same symbols should appear on the smartphone response page. (There are 64 possible symbols available, with different background colours.) 

As an added element of security – as well as an extra bit of fun – one of the four symbols on the label is concealed by scratch-off ink. Once this symbol has been scratched free to reveal what is hopefully the last matching picture in the sequence, the consumer can be assured of a genuine code.

If the symbols on the smartphone display don’t match those on the label, this indicates a code that has been copied or used more than once.

The label is also fitted with VOID technology, which essentially means that it is constructed with a bottom layer and a top layer. Any attempt to transfer the label to another product will result in the top layer being peeled off, leaving behind the irremovable ‘residue’ of the bottom layer – including a QR code that has been transformed into the shape of an ‘X’, denoting that the label is void.

Unopened label with scratch-off element (left), opened with VOID effect (right) (© Securikett).