Tasmanian distillery combats counterfeiting using IoT

Old Kempton Distillery (OKD) is located in the small town of Kempton in Tasmania, where it produces some of the finest single malt whiskies. The product is produced, distilled, aged and bottled on the property.

With counterfeiting product becoming a global issue, particularly in the whisky industry, Robbie Gilligan, Business Manager and Brand Ambassador for OKD, said the company decided to take proactive action to protect its growing brand.

OKD implemented the HID Global IoT platform for brand protection, combined with the web application developed by local integrator AusNFC, to combat counterfeiting of its whiskies, premium gin and other liquor products.

“We were seeking the best brand protection technology available and a solution that would also allow us to securely engage with our customers, long after a sale. We believe that HID Trusted Tag Services and the support provided through AusNFC provide just that,” said Gilligan.

The distillery’s solution incorporates HID Trusted Tag Services into the AusNFC web application that drive the front-end mobile experience on customers’ phones.

An HID cryptographically secure near-field communication (NFC) tag is embedded into the label of every liquor bottle, which links to HID’s cloud authentication service.

By tapping their iPhone or Android phone to the bottle, the customer activates a secure communications channel that authenticates the provenance of their premium product — down to the actual bottle number.

Unlike QR codes, each tap generates a unique URL, preventing counterfeiters from copying, spoofing or manipulating the URL for false verification.

“HID’s IoT technology is enabling mass adoption of brand protection by major brands worldwide that are seeking to address more sophisticated attempts by fraudsters focused on imitating their products,” said Mark Robinton, Director of Business Development and Strategic Innovation at HID Global.

According to Larry Hower, CEO of AusNFC, NFC technology is becoming more widely used and the solution is applicable to many different industries. “HID Trusted Tag Services is changing the game for authenticating brands and staying connected to buyers through a mobile experience,” he said.

The NFC tags come in many form factors for a variety of product shapes and sizes requiring brand authentication. The tags are embedded into each product during the manufacturing process and are easily read using NFC-enabled smartphones (both Android and iOS v11 and newer). The advanced cryptographic capabilities of the embedded tags make them virtually impossible to be cloned or copied, and the extended security features in HID’s cloud authentication service provide privacy-preserving brand authentication and consumer engagement in a closed and trusted environment.  

“The brand protection solution from HID and AusNFC goes a long way in helping us preserve the uniqueness of our whisky and shutting the door to imitations,” concluded Gilligan.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/draghicich