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German blockchain-anchored data security company Ubirch joins BiTA

(Image credit: Lexi Alvidrez/FreightWaves)

Cologne-based blockchain company Ubirch announced it has joined the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA), an organization dedicated to determining best practices and standards for blockchain in the transportation industry. BiTA’s members include Descartes, Daimler, FedEx and Uber Freight among dozens of other global brands. Ubirch will bring its deep expertise in cyber security technologies to the Alliance and help develop blockchain-based solutions for the Industry.

Ubirch is already working hand in hand with strong industry partners. Cooperation with Lufthansa Industry Solutions and mobile security specialist Giesecke & Devrient Mobile Security shows how logistics and supply chain can work together in the digital age. Blockchain in connection with the Internet of Things (IoT) enables tracking of condition, position and other data-points, directly from containers, ships, forklifts, AGVs or trucks, allowing for a data-driven aupply chain and parametric transport insurance that reacts immediately when something goes wrong. For example, using an air cargo container, Ubirch, together with Lufthansa Industry Solutions, demonstrate how this works with 5G, damage-detection on the Edge and secure data transmission.  

Stephan Noller, CEO at Ubirch, said, “Ubirch’s partnership with BiTA, as well as working alongside other global industry leaders in transportation, logistics and supply chain, will allow us to engage in the development of security standards for how blockchain technology will be used in such transportation activities as track and trace, provenance, smart contract management and fraud detection. By helping to develop a common framework and standards by working with other industry participants, we will promote broad adoption of this disruptive digital technology for transportation and logistics.”

“Blockchain technology will transform the supply chain by introducing greater transparency, innovation and efficiency,” said Patrick Duffy, BiTA President. “We are fortunate to have member companies like Ubirch, that have experience with blockchain security applications. It will be a key player in helping us develop blockchain standards in transportation.”

The Ubirch solution works in a similar fashion to notarizing a contract. The seal can still be broken and the contract changed but not without leaving traces (evidence of tampering), and if these traces are detected, the original document can be retrieved from the notary’s archive for comparison. Innovative cryptography and blockchain technologies guarantee the trustworthiness of IoT data. While most other IoT security solutions focus on securing the transmission channel and/or the device, Ubirch focuses on securing the IoT data-packets individually. The advantage and uniques selling proposition of this approach are pervasiveness, warranted authenticity and order of sequence as the security is attached to the data-packets with these interlinked in a blockchain. They are always secured – even if they have been transmitted over non-secure channels. Ubirch technology – deployable as software or on SIM-cards – is aimed primarily at customers in the industrial, smart cities, insurance, IoT start-ups, energy supply, homeland security and logistics segments.

About Ubirch


Ubirch is the specialist for blockchain-based security technology in the field of IoT with locations in Cologne, Berlin and Munich, Germany. The team consists of experienced specialists in cryptography, blockchain and data-driven business models. Consisting of an extremely lightweight client for sensor firmware and the matching cloud backend, Ubirch’s “Blockchain for Things” solution enables military-grade data protection to deliver new business models for IoT. For further information visit www.ubirch.com

About the Blockchain in Transport Alliance

Founded in August 2017, BiTA has become the largest commercial blockchain alliance in the world, with nearly 300 members. BiTA members are primarily from the freight, transportation, logistics and affiliated industries. Alliance members share a common mission to develop a standards framework, educate the market on blockchain applications/solutions and distributed ledger technology, and encourage the use of those applications.