Anti-counterfeit and product authentication company YPB Group (ASX:YPB) has launched a product aimed at detecting fake COVID-19 vaccination records. Pic: Getty Images
Tech
As concerns grow globally about counterfeit COVID-19 vaccination records, YPB Group’s new MultiSec® Shield is primed to tackle the problem.
Anti-counterfeit and product authentication company YPB Group (ASX:YPB) has launched a product aimed at detecting fake COVID-19 vaccination records.
The secure over-laminate product called MultiSec® Shield can protect documents and physical media against counterfeiting, and enable end user authentication via a smartphone.
MultiSec® is powered by YPB’s proprietary MotifMicro1 (MM1), a forensic anti-counterfeit solution readable by an unmodified smartphone.
YPB Founder and Executive Chairman John Houston told Stockhead the product would be particularly beneficial at protecting physical COVID-19 vaccination records.
“As more people are asked to prove they have been vaccinated a black market of counterfeit vaccination records is starting to boom globally,” Houston said.
“With vaccine hesitancy remaining high, bogus cards are easily available on social media, messaging apps and the dark web.”
“Currently 128 countries are mandating some proof of vaccination, and this is a product which would be simple for governments to use in creating a secure document or card to help prevent counterfeits.”
Houston said for the safety of communities worldwide there needed to be a way to minimise the circulation of fake vaccination records.
“The whole premise of me starting this company was to protect people from counterfeit and with the onset of vaccine records it has become a real issue,” he said.
“If you’re a venue operator for example, how do you know if someone is presenting you with a fake vaccine record?
“COVID-19 has happened so fast in the world, and it needed a fast and simple solution, and we think we’ve got it.”
The launch of MultiSec® Shield follows the granting of a US patent which provides coverage over technologies employing a mobile device to determine the presence of a security tracer containing phosphor.
Houston said now MM1 was protected against reverse engineering or plagiarism by other companies interested in this kind of smartphone technology, MultiSec® Shield could be launched globally.
The over-laminate material goes over cards or documents with the phosphor ingredient detected when scanned using the YPB App.
“Our material is excited by the flash of a camera and it’s that interaction that enables our artificial intelligence algorithm to determine its authenticity,” Houston said.
“The patent granted in the US has gone through a rigorous validation process.”
With a career background in operating mobile phone companies, Houston said YPB’s technology has been ahead of its time, with the company originally launching with a scanner.
“You could take the over-laminate material say on a card and take your scanner and it would tell you if it was real or not,” he said.
“Everyone I spoke to were wanting a mobile phone to do the scanning. So in 2013 we wrote a patent over that concept, envisaging one day we could develop a technology to do it and we now have.”
MultiSec® Shield is launched to existing and prospective MotifMicro™ partners. He said it also expands YPB’s market to governments, their manufacturers and printers, large pharma companies and health authorities.
YPB launched a specific website page introducing the product and allowing governments and security printers to register to apply for the MultiSec® Shield product to apply to their documents.
“It can protect the COVID-19 vaccine records and related documents so when they are completed, they are simply put into a MultiSec® Shield sleeve and laminated which can then be easily verified by the App,” Houston said.
“Our technology allows countries to open up safely and effectively because whoever wants to verify that record to see if it is genuine can do so easily”
YPB has also positioned MultiSec® to capitalise on the rising trend for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). People spend thousands, or even millions, to secure NFTs, a digital method of guaranteeing the authenticity of a digital item — often a piece of art.
Houston said MultiSec was ideal to protect the rising trend of NFT physical certificates that are now being provided as part of the digital sale.
“At the moment you can purchase whole art for example through an NFT, and or buy a portion of it just like Bitcoin,” he said.
“What is happening with the new and upcoming authentication services of an NFT is that some companies are issuing physical certificates of authenticity.”
“We can protect those just like we would any other document.”
FY22 is gearing up to be a strong year of growth for YPB, which recently secured a commercial trial in the south-east Asian market for MM1. The agreement is with Holographic Label Sdn. Bhd, which has placed its first order for US$4,000 of MM1.
The company signed its first paid commercial trial with leading Australian and New Zealand packaging supplier Opal in September.
YPB has generated interest in the technology globally and is in negotiations with several high volume print suppliers to rollout the MM1 technology.
This article was developed in collaboration with YPB Group, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
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