News In Brief

Token Begins Production of Smart Ring for Authentication

New York-based Token, the provider of wearable authentication solutions, has begun production of its smart ring in the United States. As per the company, almost 200 organisations have committed to the NFC-enabled ring equipped with a fingerprint and optical sensor.

Launched in 2017, the intelligent rings will be produced in the US. They feature FIDO2 support (FIDO is an association that develops authentication standards to help reduce over-reliance on passwords) and can be paired with a user’s phone using the Token Ring App. The device offers password-less biometric authentication courtesy of an integrated fingerprint sensor and relies on NFC technology to validate proximity and mitigate remote attacks.

According to sources, the ring will facilitate various authentication applications, including contactless payments and public transportation. The NFC sensor allows it to make payments at contactless terminals. The ring will work with public transportation services that use tap-and-go NFC systems — like London and San Francisco.

Priced at $249, the ring comes in seven different sizes, is waterproof up to 50 metres and has a built-in rechargeable battery.

In April this year, Token secured $43 million in funding from Grand Oaks. Furthermore, the ring earned the New Product of the Year Award 2022 from Security Today.

According to Reconnaissance International’s new report ‘Smartphones for Authentication’ ¹, wearable electronics such as smart watches, rings and jewellery utilising NFC technology and integrated with smartphones will revolutionise the authentication eco-system.

More Falsified Medicines Reported Across the Globe

Falsified medicines are continuously giving global headaches to regulatory authorities, as incidents of fake and contaminated drugs, of all different types, are frequently reported across the world.

For instance, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has warned of fake versions of Novo Nordisk’s diabetes drug Ozempic® – often used for weight loss – at wholesalers in the European Union and UK.

This follows a surge in the drug’s popularity, which has resulted in a lack of supply, prompting patients to turn to illegal online pharmacies. The pre-filled injection pens are falsely labelled as the drug sold by Novo Nordisk and were discovered as fakes because of inactive serial numbers.

The falsified pens include genuine information from Ozempic packs, including batch numbers, 2D barcodes, and unique serial numbers. According to EMA, the serial numbers came up as inactive when they were scanned. While the pens with labels in German were fake, the packaging was genuine, and they originated from wholesalers in Austria and Germany, the EMA said in a statement. EU drug regulators and the police are now investigating the issue.

Meanwhile, in Belize, health authorities have discovered falsified Tylenol at various supermarkets nationwide, all carrying the same batch number and expiry date. Johnson & Johnson, the producer of the original pain tablet, confirmed it was not the producer of the fraudulent product. The Ministry of Health’s Drug Inspectorate Unit said the counterfeit drug was likely illegally imported.

And so it goes on…

Arise IIP Acquires Crystalchain to Track Carbon Emissions

ARISE Integrated Industrial Platforms (IIP), a leading manager of industrial parks in Africa, is acquiring a 17.6% stake in Crystalchain, a French company with expertise in traceability. This joint initiative will be deployed across ARISE IIP’s industrial parks and supply chains with the aim of reducing their carbon footprint by better tracking their greenhouse gas emissions.

Arise IIP plans to implement this solution in the countries where it operates, including:

• Benin (cotton, cashew nuts, and soy) 

• Gabon (timber)

• Togo (soy, sesame, cotton) 

• Côte d’Ivoire (cashew nuts) 

• Republic of Congo (timber) 

• Nigeria (agricultural products) 

• Chad (meat).

In 2021, Arise IIP partnered with FibreTrace® to develop a pilot programme enabling spinner-to-garment traceability for the Arise IIP spinning facilities at the Glo- Djigbé Industrial Zone in Benin – a first for the fast-emerging African textile sector.

To guarantee the traceability of the cotton, FibreTrace embeds luminescent pigments on the fibre at the spinning mill. The pigments, indestructible throughout the entire textile processing cycle, can be read and tracked at every stage of the supply chain, and each audit is recorded on the blockchain, making the information accessible and irrefutable.

Trace4Value Consortium to Address EU’s Textile Digital Passport

A consortium of organisations, including Trustrace, Marimekko, Kappahl, Elis, SIS Swedish Institute of Standards, GS1 Sweden, TEXroad Foundation, Circularista, Policy Hub, Trimpco Group, Rudholm and Haak and Alto University, have joined forces for a pilot project to investigate the development, opportunities, and challenges of a Digital Product Passport (DPP) in the textiles value chain.

The project involves the application of digital tagging to garments during the production phase, using a digital carrier that links to specific product data, thereby generating a unique product ID. The DPP will store supply chain and transparency data, ensuring accessibility to consumers, brands, and authorities from the point of sale.

A number of use cases will be tested on selected items within the product lines of fashion brands Kappahl and Marimekko. The primary objective of the passport is to capture and retain pertinent product information, aligning with the initial phase of the DPP, as viewed from the perspectives of authorities, the EU, brands, and consumers.

The pilot aligns with the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, which envisions mandatory DPPs on textiles sold in Europe by 2030. The goal of the DPP is to encourage sustainable production, enable the transition to a circular economy, and help consumers make more sustainable choices.

TrusTrace provides the technology underpinning the project, and the broader Trace4Value project covers more than 65 partners, focusing on traceability and data- sharing across various industries.

1 -  https://estore.reconnaissance.net/product/smartphone-for-authentication/