WISeKey
Announces Swiss
Intrinsiq Security for
Watchmakers’ Brand Protection
WISeKey adds NFT
Service for Luxury High-End and Vintage Watches
WISeKey, was the first company in the world to
use dual factor authentication combined with blockchain technology
to secure luxury watches, and currently protects over 2.5 million
luxury watches.
This technology has received a patent in the
USA (see patent here)
GENEVA – May 10, 2022: WISeKey
International Holding Ltd. (“WISeKey”) (SIX: WIHN, NASDAQ: WKEY), a
leading global cybersecurity, AI, Blockchain and IoT company, today
announced a new Swiss Intrinsiq
Security for Watchmakers’ Brand
Protection.
Counterfeiting is a huge and growing issue for the luxury
industry. Not only the original manufacturers’ revenues and
reputation are at stake, but the end customers are also impacted
(quality issues, reliability, etc). One of the solutions to fight
counterfeiting is to digitally identify and authenticate the goods
to be protected. For instance, a secure element with unique secret
keys can be placed in or on a watch to prove the watch’s identity,
the same way an electronic passport proves a passenger’s identity.
For some luxury industries, electronic components are very badly
perceived since they can waste the overall impression of
luxury.
Today, there are no effective ways to mechanically and
efficiently secure a piece of silicon (a secure element) in the
(often metal) environment of a watch or of another luxury good.
Therefore, such a secure element could easily be moved from an
authentic watch to a fake one, or from a low cost model to an
expensive one. Similarly, an electronic passport with no biometric
records could be stolen and used by anybody.
The secure element to digitally prove the identity of a luxury
good (watch, etc.) is no longer an external “dirty” part that is
artificially affixed onto/into the product. It is fully integrated
and becomes a constitutive part of the product. The overall luxury
perception is intact.
This secure element is no longer an external part that could be
moved to another product, it becomes intrinsically part of the
product it protects, like a DNA signature. This seriously
reinforces the proof of identity/authenticity. Since the secure
element is intrinsically integrated into a piece of the good to be
protected, it does not require any specific handling. The
traditional fully hand-made assembly of the good is still possible
and the craft environment of luxury is respected.
The authenticity of the luxury good can be easily proven by
checking the digital identity (secret keys) contained in the
embedded secure element through standard cryptographic transactions
between this “chip” and an external authentication device. Various
interfaces are possible (contact and contactless).
The embedded secure element can also contain the full certified
history of the luxury good from manufacturing to customers which
solves the traceability complexity of these products. Moreover, the
silicon used to manufacture the mechanical parts offers additional
useful characteristics (shape memory effect, thermal stability,
etc.).
Our Proposition in Details
The method we propose in this invention can be summarized the
following way:
- The mechanical part that will be included in the luxury good to
be protected is laser cut in a piece of silicon that embeds the
secure element which was previously prepared in a regular
semiconductor factory.
- The embedded secure element is a regular secure microcontroller
that provides the communication interfaces required by the
application (contact or contactless) and that can be powered by
contact or by induction.
- The embedded secure element is provisioned with the digital
identity (secret keys) once the luxury good is univocally initially
authenticated by the brand.
- Depending on the physical integration and use case, the secure
element can be accessed for authentication or traceability either
through the casing of the good or after having opened it for
inspection or maintenance.
WISeKey’s NFT technology creates a Watch Birth Certificates,
digital identities which are analogous to birth certificates and
can be converted into NFTs. The Watch Birth Certificate is
signed, or “certified” by a trusted authority and contains basic
information such as date & time of manufacture (birth), company
(parents), and type of product. This digital identity, used
throughout the watch lifetime, allows the watch to become a
“Trusted Object” of the Internet, prove its identity and provide
verifiable data.The Watch Birth Certificate is based on a
cryptographic public-private key pair that is unique to each IoT
device. The public key for this key pair is part of the
certificate and can be freely distributed, while the private key is
used whenever the IoT device needs to verify its identity or to
sign data to ensure cryptographic integrity. It is the private key
that represents the essence of the identity of the IoT device.
About WISeKeyWISeKey (NASDAQ: WKEY; SIX Swiss
Exchange: WIHN) is a leading global cybersecurity company currently
deploying large scale digital identity ecosystems for people and
objects using Blockchain, AI and IoT respecting the Human as the
Fulcrum of the Internet. WISeKey microprocessors secure the
pervasive computing shaping today’s Internet of Everything. WISeKey
IoT has an install base of over 1.6 billion microchips in virtually
all IoT sectors (connected cars, smart cities, drones, agricultural
sensors, anti-counterfeiting, smart lighting, servers, computers,
mobile phones, crypto tokens etc.). WISeKey is uniquely
positioned to be at the edge of IoT as our semiconductors produce a
huge amount of Big Data that, when analyzed with Artificial
Intelligence (AI), can help industrial applications to predict the
failure of their equipment before it happens.
Our technology is Trusted by the OISTE/WISeKey’s Swiss based
cryptographic Root of Trust (“RoT”) provides secure authentication
and identification, in both physical and virtual environments, for
the Internet of Things, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence. The
WISeKey RoT serves as a common trust anchor to ensure the integrity
of online transactions among objects and between objects and
people. For more information, visit www.wisekey.com.
Press and investor contacts:WISeKey
International Holding LtdCompany Contact: Carlos
MoreiraChairman & CEOTel: +41 22 594
3000info@wisekey.com WISeKey
Investor Relations (US)Contact: Lena CatiThe Equity
Group Inc.Tel: +1 212 836-9611lcati@equityny.com
Disclaimer:This communication expressly or
implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements concerning
WISeKey International Holding Ltd and its business. Such statements
involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other
factors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition,
performance, or achievements of WISeKey International Holding Ltd
to be materially different from any future results, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. WISeKey International Holding Ltd is providing this
communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any
forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.This press release does not
constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy,
any securities, and it does not constitute an offering prospectus
within the meaning of article 652a or article 1156 of the Swiss
Code of Obligations or a listing prospectus within the meaning of
the listing rules of the SIX Swiss Exchange. Investors must rely on
their own evaluation of WISeKey and its securities, including the
merits and risks involved. Nothing contained herein is, or shall be
relied on as, a promise or representation as to the future
performance of WISeKey.
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