Security Tags Research Articles

Data tag replacement algorithm for data integrity verification in cloud storage

Data integrity verification is an important technical method to detect the integrity of remote cloud storage data. At present, the existing data integrity verification algorithms generate data tags for outsourced data blocks before verification, and then use these data tags to verify the data integrity proofs provided by the data storage provider and determine whether the corresponding data blocks are intact. Unfortunately, most of these algorithms do not check the reliability of data tags. Once the data tags are compromised due to the exposure of the private key of data owner, the corrupted data can easily bypass subsequent verification, thereby invalidating the verification. To solve this issue, we propose a secure and reliable data tag replacement algorithm DTRA. The proposed algorithm uses proactive and reactive replacement to update the data owner’s private key. In addition, the algorithm applies homomorphic encryption to implement data tag replacement directly in the remote storage environment, avoids data owner downloading outsourced data from remote storage space, and reduces the data transmission overhead caused by data tag replacement. Theoretical analysis and experimental results indicate that the algorithm can achieve data tag replacement safely and reliably at a low cost.

A Supraparticle‐Based Five‐Level‐Identification Tag That Switches Information Upon Readout

AbstractProduct identification tags are of great importance in a globalized world with increasingly complex trading routes and networks. Beyond currently used coding strategies, such as QR codes, higher data density, flexible application as well as miniaturization and readout indication are longed for in the next generation of security tags. In this work, micron‐sized supraparticles (SPs) with encoded information (ID) are produced that not only exhibit multiple initially covert identification levels but are also irreversibly marked as “read” upon readout. To achieve this, lanthanide doped CaF2 nanoparticles are assembled in various quantity‐weighted ratios via spray‐drying in presence of a broad‐spectrum stealth fluorophore (StFl), yielding covert spectrally encoded ID‐SPs. Using these as pigments, QR codes, initially dominated by the green fluorescence of the StFl, could be generated. Upon thermal energy input, these particle‐based tags irreversibly switch to an activated state revealing not only multiple luminescent colors but also spectral IDs. This strategy provides the next generation of material‐based security tags with a high data density and security level that switch information upon readout and can be, therefore, used as seal of quality.

An ultra light weight and secure RFID batch authentication scheme for IoMT

As an application of IoT technology in the healthcare industry, IoMT has higher security requirements than IoT while improving medical efficiency and reducing medical costs. How to ensure the safety of IoMT is a challenging task. In the implementation of IoMT, Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) is a key technology for establishing an identity authentication system, which can efficiently identify medical equipment and patients. Designing a safe and efficient RFID authentication protocol will help protect user privacy, enhance the security of the IoMT system and improve the efficiency of medical staff to detect and manage patients. Most of the existing RFID authentication protocols can only authenticate one tag in each authentication session, which is called a per-tag protocol. In medical scenarios that need to efficiently authenticate a mass of tags at short notice, the use of traditional per-tag protocols is inefficient and may delay the treatment of patients. To solve the problem that the per-tag protocols are not applicable in some medical scenarios, we designed a low-cost batch authentication protocol which can accurately identify each illegal tag and reduce the overhead of authentication data transmission. We use the solution of homogeneous linear equations as a key to encrypt the authentication data of the tag to further reduce the cost of the tag. The protocol proposed in this paper is capable of batch certification of tags, with strong security and low tag cost. After security analysis and performance analysis, our scheme can be well applied to IoMT.

Near-zero reflection of all-dielectric structural coloration enabling polarization-sensitive optical encryption with enhanced switchability

Abstract Structural coloration using metasurfaces has been steadily researched to overcome the limitations of conventional color printing using pigments by improving the resolution, lowering the toxicity, and increasing the durability. Many metasurfaces have been demonstrated for dynamic structural coloration to convert images at the visible spectrum. However, the previous works cannot reach near-zero scattering when colors are turned-off, preventing it from being cryptographic applications. Herein, we propose a completely on/off switchable structural coloration with polarization-sensitive metasurfaces, enabling full-colored images to be displayed and hidden through the control of the polarization of incident light. It is confirmed that the nanostructure exhibits the polarization-dependent magnetic field distributions, and near-zero scattering is realized when the polarization of incident light is perpendicular to the long axis of the nanofins. Also, the metasurfaces are made up of triple-nanofin structures whose lengths affect locations of resonance peaks, resulting in full-color spectrum coverages. With such advantages, a QR code image, a two-color object image, and an overlapped dual-portrait image are obtained with the metasurfaces. Such demonstrations will provide potential applications in the fields of high-security information encryption, security tag, multichannel imaging, and dynamic displays.

Multigenerational Crumpling of 2D Materials for Anticounterfeiting Patterns with Deep Learning Authentication

Summary Physical unclonable function (PUF) is a cornerstone of anticounterfeiting. However, conventional PUF key-based secure tags encounter several bottlenecks, such as complicated manufacturing, specialized and tedious readout, long authentication time, and insufficient stability. Here, we utilize various two-dimensional materials (2DMs), including Ti3C2Tx MXene and graphene oxide, to construct multigenerational microstructures as PUF patterns. Two intermediate treatments, cation intercalation and moisture-induced lubrication, are introduced in between sequential contractions to engineer the multiscale patterns in a transfer-free and scalable fashion. A deep learning (DL)-facilitated software is developed to pre-categorize the hierarchical topographies with classifiable features. Thereafter, the search-and-compare is conducted within a smaller database to shorten the overall authentication time. The synergy between 2DM tags and DL-facilitated software enables a reliable and environmentally stable anticounterfeiting technology, DeepKey, showing superior encoding capacity (>10144,494) and short authentication time (∼3.5 min). Our 2DM anticounterfeiting tag is finally integrated with QR codes to provide two-layer information security.

Multiauditing Based Cloud Storage Using a Dynamic Hash Table

Cloud depository is one of the customary supplications of the cloud computing system, which offers on-demand offloading services for both individuals and institutions. Although utilizes do not have full faith in the cloud service providers (CSPs) within that, it is hard to decide either the CSPs meet their licit expectations for data security or not. Thence, it is evaluative to come up with productive auditing techniques to boost owners’ trust and reliance in cloud storage. In this paper, we are presenting a scheme of auditing for assured cloud storage based on a 2-dimensional data structure called a dynamic hash table (DHT), used to record the data information for public auditing. This scheme emigrates the approved information from the CSP to the TPA and thereby a remarkable reduction in the computational cost and communication overhead. Also, the deduplication technology is utilized to lower the capacity and bandwidth prerequisites of the utilities by removing repetitious informati zon and stockpiles, only an original replica of them. We enhance our design encourages privacy preservation by homomorphism authenticator constructed on the public key, and attend batch auditing by aggregate BLS signature technique. Experimental results indicate that our mechanism achieves secure deduplication and tag generation improvements.

Potentially Unwanted Program Analysis and Detection using YARA Rules

In this paper, some potentially unwanted program (PUP) samples are analyzed, detected and are blocked using YARA rules. Nowadays the user may notices the unwanted software such as PUP or a potentially unwanted application (PUA) . For security and parental control products subjective tagging criterion was used. To compromise privacy or weaken the computer's security such software was implemented. Third party software often bundle a wanted program to be downloaded with a wrapper application and may offer to install an unwanted application. In this paper, some samples of PUP under reverse engineering technique are analyzed by using YARA rules that promptly resist unwanted applications or programs

Meta-hologram-based authentication scheme employing a speckle pattern fingerprint.

A concept for an optical holographic security tag is proposed and demonstrated. When illuminated with a laser beam, the image scattered from the tag projects a Quick Response code which encodes identifying information. The image also carries pseudorandom speckle noise, from which a unique speckle pattern "fingerprint" is derived. We show numerically that the tag is unclonable without access to a secret key - the starting conditions of the design algorithm. However, given the key, it is straightforward to reproduce a tag exhibiting the expected fingerprint. Several tags have been realized, implemented as plasmonic meta-holograms, and characterized experimentally. The robustness of the tag to fabrication error and its resilience to counterfeiting are studied in detail and demonstrated experimentally.

Steric and Electronic Control of Chiral Eu(III) Complexes for Effective Circularly Polarized Luminescence.

Circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) is characterized by the differential emission of right and left circularly polarized light by a chiral molecule. This mini-review describes the recent developments in chiral trivalent europium (Eu(III)) complexes with effective CPL. CPL has many potential applications in security tags, lasers, and three-dimensional organic electroluminescence devices, which is one of the most intensely investigated topics in molecular luminophores. Eu(III) complexes have attracted considerable attention as effective CPL luminophores for the above-mentioned applications. In this review, recent studies on the Eu(III) CPL, including the steric (dimer, tetramer, aggregates, and coordination polymers) and electronic control (mononuclear) of Eu(III) complexes for the construction of a luminophore with effective CPL, are discussed. The characteristic CPL applications employing the chiral mononuclear Eu(III) complexes are also described. Chiral Eu(III) complexes with well-designed organic ligands can result in the establishment of new research areas in the fields of photochemistry and materials science.

A Comparative Survey on Silicon Based and Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW)-Based RFID Tags: Potentials, Challenges, and Future Directions

Many Automatic Identification (Auto-ID) technologies such as bar codes, magnetic stripes, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) security tags are in existence. However, they are limited by a variety of constraints on them such as limited object rate of scan, need for Line-of-Sight (LOS) operation, very small interrogation range and poor accuracy in complex environments. Research has accordingly grown rapidly in recent years into the development of robust identification or tracking mechanisms. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology using readers and RFID tags, whether passive, semi-passive or active in nature, has been deemed to be a promising candidate. Silicon based IC tags are quite popular. However, some alternative RFID technologies have also been on the rise. In particular, another special type of tag based on Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) design also has a great potential for deployment in future identification fields due to its ruggedness against harsh conditions, metallic environments, interference, small and low cost and is being thoroughly reviewed, which is ignored in other survey papers. While other chipless RFID systems based on conductive ink, ink-tattoo and others do exist, negative aspects such as inability to survive in extreme weather, larger tag size and limited data storage capacity have severely impacted the penetration of such tags in the RFID market. Therefore, the scope of this survey article does not include chipless RFID tags. This article instead provides a comparative survey of silicon based IC and SAW based tags, which has attracted much attention from both academia and industry. The underlying characteristics, principles, advantages, and limitations of such tags are thoroughly discussed, and relevant research work followed by frequency of operation and other parameters are elaborated. This article undertakes a thorough investigation into the evolution of RFID technology and comparison into the current trend in silicon based IC and SAW based RFID tags and provides a comparison across many metrics, such as read range, tag size, tag power, availability of tag power, lifespan and more importantly, cost and security. It discusses active and passive tags under silicon based IC and SAW technology. Finally, the article reviews recent advances and provides potentials, open challenges and future research directions in such RFID tags. © 2013 IEEE.

Darkfield colors from multi-periodic arrays of gap plasmon resonators

Abstract We present results on colors of metal disk arrays viewed under a darkfield microscope and show that the darkfield colors can be manipulated independently of the brightfield colors. We investigate the appearance of colors as disks are clustered to form a new array with double the pitch and a basis of four disks. These structures of aluminum disks on aluminum oxide on aluminum have resonances in the visible spectrum, so by arranging them in small tight clusters, a coupled plasmon resonant mode is produced at shorter wavelengths. This feature causes a reflectance minimum and leads to an increase in the gamut of darkfield colors produced. These colors are tuned by changing the size of the disk and the inter-disk gap within the clusters. Interestingly, the intensities of the reflectance peaks also demonstrate good agreement with the Fourier series coefficients for square waves. Polarization-tunable colors are also demonstrated by designing rectangular arrays that have dissimilar periods along the two orthogonal axes of the array, and a four-level security tag is fabricated that encodes images for viewing under brightfield, darkfield (both x and y polarization), and infrared illumination.

A secure multi-frequency resonator for printable chipless RFID tag based on multifractal planar geometry

ABSTRACTIn this paper, we are presenting a secure, compact and directly printable resonator for chipless RFID tag based on multifractal planar shape. The multifractal Cantor set shows an interesting performance of the monostatic radar cross section for chipless RFID tag. Unlike the classical RFID tag, where for each frequency a resonator is needed, so the number of resonators increases when the identification range increases, by using the Iterated Function System (IFS) the obtained resonator has many resonant frequencies leading to decreasing the number of resonators in chipless RFID tag. In addition, due to their auto similarities and multiscale resolutions resonant frequencies generated by the multifractal Cantor set are not independents: all resonant frequencies are correlated, so we cannot map a frequency peak to only one resonator, because the resonator itself represents a multi frequencies signature. These lead to a more secure tag, which is a challenge for many growing applications.

The Effect of Library Security on Service Delivery in Federal University Lafia, Library- Nigeria

The Effect of Library Security on Service Delivery in Federal University Lafia, Library- Nigeria Dr. Suleiman Musa, Dr. Faga, Asom, Ejeh, Daniel Matthew Abstract Security is an important and complex challenge in contemporary societies. This study on library security and service delivery in Federal University Lafia Library dwels on the types of security apparatus adopted by the Library, the challenges associated with the implementation of library security for effective service delivery as well as the remedies to these challenges were investigated. The descriptive survey design was used for the study. The population of the study comprised 16 library staff and 491 registered students. Findings revealed that of all the security aparatus identified by the researcher such as surveillance cameras, radio frequency identification, panic alarms, perimeter alarm system, door intrusion alarms, nexpak/amaray secure cases, alpha security cases or extreme-pac cases, clear-vu one- time and em security tags, the library did not adopt any of them. In addition, it was discovered that poor budgeting /inadequate funding of the library, inadequate staff/personnel, epileptic/erratic power supply to implement electronic security, lack of institutional security policy, among others were some of the challenges faced by the library in the area of security of library materials. the results however points out that the strategies to enhance the implementation of library security are; improve funding of university libraries, employ more staff in the library, there should be security policy for the library among others. from the findings, the following recommendations among others were made : the federal government can help in the provision and installation of electronic security systems in the libraries to further boost the security system. adequate funds should be made available to the university libraries by the institution to provide for effective security system and facilities to safeguard the library resources, as well as the users property the university libraries need to develop workable security policy and disaster management plan, which should be made available to staff and fully implemented for effective library security management. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jlis.v7n1a6

Dot-Matrix Hologram Rendering Algorithm and its Validation through Direct Laser Interference Patterning

The fight against forgery of valuable items demands efficient and reasonably priced solutions. A security tag featuring holographic elements for anti-counterfeiting is one of them. However, the content and colours of a diffraction image that would be seen by an observer are often counterintuitive in the design stage. Here, we propose an original algorithm based on the conical diffraction formalism, which can be used to describe the variations of a diffraction image with respect to all aspects of observation. We validate the output of the algorithm by comparing it to test holograms, which we have produced by employing direct laser interference patterning (DLIP) in electrochemically grown nickel foil. We have employed a motorized femtosecond laser system to micro-machine arrays of 65 µm × 65 µm sized diffraction gratings with a defined orientation and pitch on the order of 1 µm. Based on completed diffraction efficiency measurements, we determined optimal ablation parameters, i.e. 57.4 mJ/cm2 fluence per pulse and 1100 pulses/pixel. Furthermore, we show how accurate the proposed algorithm is through measured diffraction spectra as well as captured diffraction images of test holograms produced using the obtained parameters. Finally, we showcase anti-counterfeiting tag prototypes with complex holographic effects, i.e. colour reconstruction, animation effects, and image multiplexing. The proposed algorithm can severely shorten the time between design and production of a holographic tag, especially when realizing it via a competitive origination technology—DLIP.

Embedding anti-counterfeiting features in metallic components via multiple material additive manufacturing

The aerospace, automotive and medical industries are suffering from significant number of counterfeited metallic products that not only have caused financial losses but also endanger lives. The rapid development of additive manufacturing technologies makes such a situation even worse. In this investigation, we successfully applied a novel hybrid powder delivery selective laser melting (SLM) approach to embed dissimilar tagging material (Cu10Sn copper alloy) safety features (e.g. QR code) into metallic components made of 316 L stainless steel. X-ray imaging was found to be a suitable method for the identification of the embedded safety features up to 15 mm in depth. X-ray fluorescence was used for the chemical composition identification of the imbedded security tagging material. A criterion for the selection of tagging material, its dimensions and imbedding depth is proposed. The multiple material SLM technology was shown to offer the potential to be integrated into metallic component production for embedding anti-counterfeiting features.

Carbon Dot Fluorescence-Lifetime-Encoded Anti-Counterfeiting.

Carbon dots (CDs) rank among the most promising luminescent nanomaterials for anti-counterfeiting application owing to their high fluorescence quantum yield and nontoxicity. Herein, we report a novel, high-level security performance anti-counterfeiting strategy achieved by fluorescence-lifetime-encoded CD fluorescent inks. CD-inks have identical steady-state emission properties, but they have distinctive and well-separated fluorescence lifetimes, allowing authentication of security tags using exclusively fluorescence lifetime imaging. A proof-of-concept anti-counterfeiting tag using CD-based lifetime-encoded inks is demonstrated. The developed CD lifetime-based anti-counterfeit technology is awaited to be applicable to a wide spectrum of security-protecting purposes. Furthermore, the presented method can be easily extended to integrate fluorescence-lifetime-encoded CDs in multichannel bioimaging, high-throughput flow cytometry, and optical data storage.

A puzzle of the store security tag

In this paper, a surprising behaviour of the store security tag is elucidated. We explain why one can easily introduce a steel pin into the tag, while it is impossible to pull it out even if you use extremely great forces. Unexpectedly there is not any sophisticated device inside the tag, rather the whole job is done by a small steel ball placed in a simple, bucket-like container. The asymmetric behaviour of the pin follows from a specific positive feedback loop, enhancing the maximum value of static friction, that occurs only when one tries to draw the pin out of the tag.

Polarization-tuned chromatic electrodes using hybrid design of graphene-aluminum nanocross arrays for efficient organic solar cells

Solar cells entailing multi-coloring capability can pave the way for solar-powered colorful displays. Therefore, the energy that is usually wasted in color displays could be harvested to produce useful electrical power. On the other hand, introduction of color filters with capability of active control on the output color results in more compact and efficient optical devices. In this work, we have proposed a chromatic electrode in which the transmitted light has been employed as a source for the solar energy device while the reflected light generates polarization-tuned colors, simultaneously. Aiming to design such a chromatic electrode, a hybrid nanostructure of graphene and aluminum nanocross arrays has been employed for the first time. In addition to replacing ITO in organic solar cells by a novel electrode and achieving performance enhancement of organic solar cells, mapping the polarization of the incident light to visible color results in solar-powered chromatic polarizers with potential applications including active color displays, security tags, and polarization imaging. Using finite-difference time-domain numerical simulations, it has been shown that the proposed nanostructured electrode leads to enhanced photocurrent densities in the range of 11.82–17.05 (mA/cm2) due to the light trapping plasmonic properties of the nanocross arrays. Additionally, replacing ITO, suffering from poor mechanical properties and cost-ineffectiveness, offers a promising approach for large-area growth of organic photovoltaics.

Flexible and ultra-lightweight polymer membrane lasers

Organic semiconductors enable the fabrication of a range of lightweight and mechanically flexible optoelectronic devices. Most organic semiconductor lasers, however, have remained rigid until now, predominantly due to the need for a support substrate. Here, we use a simple fabrication process to make membrane-based, substrate-less and extremely thin (<500 nm) organic distributed feedback lasers that offer ultralow-weight (m/A<0.5 gm−2) and excellent mechanical flexibility. We show operation of the lasers as free-standing membranes and transfer them onto other substrates, e.g. a banknote, where the unique lasing spectrum is readily read out and used as security feature. The pump thresholds and emission intensity of our membrane lasers are well within the permissible exposures for ocular safety and we demonstrate integration on contact lenses as wearable security tags.

A Security Design for the Detecting of Buffer Overflow Attacks in IoT Device

At present, the IoT devices face many kinds of software and hardware attacks, especially buffer overflow attacks. This paper presents an architectural-enhanced security hardware design to detect buffer overflow attacks. One part of the design is instructions monitoring and verification used to trace the execution behavior of programs. Another one is secure tag validation used to monitor the attributes of every memory segment. The automated extraction tools extract the monitoring model and secure tag of each memory segment at the compile time. At run-time, the designed hardware observes its dynamic execution trace and checks whether the trace conforms to the permissible behavior, if not the appropriate response mechanisms will be triggered. The proposed schemes don’t change the compiler or the existing instruction set and imposes no restriction to the software developer. The architectural design is implemented on an actual OR1200-FPGA platform. The experimental analysis shows that the proposed techniques can detect a wide range of buffer overflow attacks. And it takes low performance penalties and minimal overheads.