PUF BASED COMPOSITE SECURITY MARKING FOR ANTI-COUNTERFEITING

The present invention relates to a method of reading with a reader device a marking comprising a physical unclonable function, PUF, and a corresponding reader device. The method comprises a stimulation step, wherein a physical challenge according to a predetermined challenge-response authentication scheme corresponding to the PUF is created and applied to a PUF; a detection step, wherein a response generated by the PUF in accordance with the challenge-response authentication scheme in reaction to the challenge is detected and a digital signal representing the response is generated; a processing step, wherein the digital signal is processed in order to generate a hash value of the response by application of a predetermined cryptographic hash function to the digital signal; an output step, wherein data representing the generated hash value as a first reading result is output; a communication step, wherein the first reading result is communicated over a communication link to an opposing side, wherein the communication step further comprises capturing and sending security-related information to a predetermined opposing side over the communication link; and an information monitoring step, wherein a security event is detected in information contained in a signal received from the opposing side over the communication link.