As we move into 2025, this overview highlights trends and developments that caught the attention of Authentication & Brand News™ (ABN) in 2024 and that could continue to shape the industry.
Technological innovation has continued to redefine the authentication industry, in terms of both physical and digital developments.
In China and South Korea, both hotbeds of scientific innovation in optical technologies, there were a number of interesting breakthroughs in 2024, notably:
On the digital front, we learned that the US company Tracer was harnessing the power of agentic (as opposed to generative) AI for use in brand protection. Its Flora agentic AI system confirms whether a suspected infringement is present and recommends whether or not to take enforcement action based on a brand owner’s global IP rights and unique directives.
Another AI application has been utilised in identifying wine fraud. Whereas traditional methods, like gas chromatography, can be used to separate and analyse the components of a particular wine, the sheer number of molecules in wine makes it challenging to discern meaningful patterns.
Enter AI, specifically machine learning, a tool that excels at identifying recurring patterns in complex datasets.
A number of news items in 2024 served to highlight the security issues involved with using QR codes, by themselves, as an identification and authentication device.
In the US, we learnt that the state of Georgia had banned the use of QR codes to count paper ballots and instead required them to be counted from their printed text or the filled-in circle next to a candidate’s name. Republican Senator Max Burns was reported as saying, ‘the biggest challenge a voter has is knowing their vote was correctly recorded. Let us eliminate QR codes. Let us ensure that electors can read the ballot and be clear about how they voted’.
QR code scanning also came under fire for enabling the type of fraud known as quishing, where victims are redirected to malicious websites prompting them to download harmful content. In one case, fraudsters pasted their own QR code, connecting to a counterfeit website, on top of legitimate codes on parking meter signs, in order to steal people’s payment card details.
Given these risks with QR code scanning, there are fortunately solutions available to detect fraudulent codes. Some of the solutions covered by ABN in 2024 included:
Strategic moves from companies and industry associations also made headlines.
For example, the global hologram body, the International Hologram Manufacturers Association, began a new life under a new name – the International Optical Technologies Association.
And we saw how several Asian state security printers were evolving from traditional currency makers into digital identification and authentication providers.
2024 will, however, no doubt be remembered as the year when the authentication sector experienced significant consolidation through several key acquisitions, notably by Crane NXT and Authentix.
With its acquisition of OpSec Security in May, followed by a definitive agreement to buy De La Rue’s Authentication division in October, Crane NXT secured its entry into the tax stamp arena and strengthened even further its presence in brand protection. A third acquisition, a few weeks later, saw Crane NXT purchase the smart packaging assets of TruTag Technologies.
Meanwhile, Authentix completed an asset purchase agreement in July with Nanotech Security, with the aim of strengthening its banknote and brand protection offerings.
Over the past few years, Authentix has built its portfolio through diversified acquisitions, including Security Print Solutions, Traceless Security, Strategic IP Information, and Royal Joh Enschedé.
These acquisitions are part of a consolidation trend in the authentication sector to address challenges such as the need to provide end-to-end, physical/digital solutions that span anticounterfeiting, brand protection, supply chain integrity, and digital trust, across a broad spectrum of industries.
As 2024 concludes, the authentication and brand protection industry is poised for further transformation. The ongoing dialogue around digital and physical integration, sustainability, AI threats versus AI opportunities, and the need for organisations to reposition themselves in the face of all that is to come, will continue to shape the industry in 2025 and beyond.
