The Problem
Counterfeits hurt your brand, put customers at risk, and you have no easy way to prove a product is real after it leaves your warehouse.
- Customers unknowingly buy fake products
- Brand reputation suffers from quality complaints on counterfeits
- No way to verify product authenticity after purchase
- Simple holograms and QR codes are easily copied
The Solution
NFC authentication is deployed in three tiers, each matched to the risk of the product. Tier 1 uses the tag's factory UID for lookup and duplicate detection. Tier 2 uses NTAG 424 DNA chips, which sign every tap with AES-128 (SUN message authentication) so your backend can verify the tap with the keys you provisioned. Tier 3 adds NTAG 424 DNA TagTamper, which reports in the same signed message whether the tag's tamper loop has been opened. Tiers 2 and 3 need a backend or verifier service holding the chip keys.
Frequently Asked Questions
NTAG 424 DNA chips use AES-128 keys to add a Secure Unique NFC (SUN) message to the URL on every tap: a tap counter plus a MAC computed with a key held on the chip. Your backend or verifier service, holding the matching key, recomputes the MAC to confirm the message came from a chip provisioned with that key and that the counter moved forward. NXP documents this as an originality and secure-messaging feature; the strength of a deployment depends on the key provisioning, key storage, and verifier you run behind it, which LINQS scopes with you during encoding. NTAG 424 DNA TagTamper chips also include the tamper-loop status in the same signed message.
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