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NFC-security seals

Security-seal-in-use

The advantages of the unique serial number (UID) of an NFC chip can be used in many different applications. Especially when it comes to counterfeit protection and traceability, NFC chips offer many advantages over other marking methods such as engraving, stickers or tags. Particularly in industrial applications, it is often necessary to reliably mark and seal goods that pass through many processing steps. Security seals are a frequently used tool to protect against manipulation, break-ins and theft.

This article will show how a security seal benefits from the combination with NFC technology.

Security seals in the industry

Security seals are locking systems, which make improper opening recognizable by their design. Mostly security seals are used in industry and can usually only be used once. They are no substitute for locks or other locking devices. Once opened, a security seal cannot be locked anymore. The main benefit of a security seal is therefore not the secure locking, but to signal whether a content / object is unopened, the cold chain has not been interrupted, or many other conceivable scenarios.

Risks associated with the marking of security seals

Inscriptions, markings or engravings can become unrecognizable due to regular use over many years, or due to deliberate action. For example, when used with corrosive and abrasive substances, such as in the chemical industry, markings can quickly become unrecognizable, making it difficult to trace a security seal back to the object. There are marking types of security seals that address this problem. Laser engravings are among the most resistant markings, but in addition to the engraving process they must also be fed into a database by reading them. Furthermore, the level of detail of a laser engraving is usually limited.

Security seals and NFC

Important for security seals is the unique and secure marking. Without proper documentation the sense of a security seal is missed, because a damaged seal cannot be traced back. Also the difference between a proper and an incorrectly opened security seal cannot be traced without cataloguing. A common marking of a security seal is a unique number - this is where NFC technology can show its strengths.

Clear security seals thanks to NFC

A security seal with an NFC chip can replace the optical marking with an electronic feature. As described in the basics of NFC, each NFC chip has a globally unique serial number (UID). The fact that this serial number is not easily reproducible simply increases the tamper resistance of the NFC seal. The UID can be read with a smartphone or windows systems. A prerequisite here is that all UIDs of the seals are recorded before use. This process can be automated even further with the help of appropriate software solutions, for example by performing the matching automatically or by accessing the database of an NFC inventory solution, making it much easier to link the security seal to virtual data. Additional information such as the time of the scan and the state of the security seal can also be tracked and synchronized with the database.

Summary

Security seals gain an additional feature through the use of NFC in order to guarantee protection against forgery. NFC chips are invisibly integrated into the security seal and can be read by an NFC reader / smartphone, independent of external influences such as weather and light.

In our range you will find robust security seals for exactly this application. We are also happy to produce seals according to your specifications to cover the individual application as well as possible.

 
Further information

Erstellt: 27.10.2020 / Aktualisiert: 27.10.2020 2020-10-27 2020-10-27