Comparative analysis of the Sentinel Seal to the Unisto or Encrypta Seal

The Unisto Seal is a development from the original Encrypta Seal. The quality of that original product was suspect in that it failed in cold, had a less than robust locking system and was not clone proof or tamper evident. In spite of its shortfalls, an the fact that there was no viable competition, the Encrypta Seal became the market leader in the UK in opposition to the Secure-reseal. The Secure-reseal was a far more robust mechanical (non powered) seal which, although still on the market, is considered old technology. The difference between the Sentinel and Encrypta vs the Secure-reseal is that the former two are electronic while the reseal is mechanical. There is no way to maintain records of numbers and the system totally relies on visual inspection methods. Both mechanical and electronic seals have their place, but with record keeping, comes a verifiability that cannot exist in a mechanical seal.

The Encrypta Seal had a very short battery life and in some instances to save money they fitted non breathing batteries which exploded in the seal body!! In some cases this device lock out when the battery wore down requiring removal from the vehicle to free the door to open.

Encrypta was taken over by Unisto about 2 years ago in 2008 and their plant in South Wales was closed and production was moved to Switzerland.

After testing, the Unisto seal still has a relatively short battery life and is not clone proof. In tests numbers will definitely repeat and therefore the same seal number can come up in successive operations. This is particularly true when the battery life is low. This is a major problem because it means the truck doors can be opened and re-sealed with the same number when the battery power is low thereby allowing the device to be fooled and the cargo becoming compromised.

The Sentinel Seal, in both the locking variety and non locking variety is guaranteed not to do this because it breaks down the seal number in segments of 2:2:1 and rebuilds a new number with its random number generator. Repeat numbers can happen down the line but never in succession.

Sentinel is tested to 500,000 operations and has a designed life expectancy of 10 years. We calculate that a transport operator is unlikely to require more than 40,000 operations in 10 years so we are confident that our battery life will last the design life of the seal. We give a 5 year Warranty on Sentinel.

Unlike Unisto, Sentinel is a genuine high security device and is protected against electronic spike attack which means the micro-processor is protected against a high voltage being introduced to the seal because there is no direct link between the seal cable and the electronic Printed Circuit Board (PCB) inside. Sentinel uses magnetic switching to send signals. We know that in Eastern Europe, criminals wire up 24 volt batteries to the Electronic seal cables to try and blow up the micro- processor. This cannot happen with Sentinel.

Sentinel is also protected against magnet attack if an attempt is made to wipe the micro-processors brain with a magnetic field. Sentinel will sense the magnet and change the seal number automatically.

Sentinel knows the I/D and owner of the device and of the truck, in its memory and the units individual serial numbers are recorded and allocated to a specific truck. Reports printed from the internal memory also reflect the particular truck so there can be no mistaking any irregularities. The data stored can be printed out with the use of our unique PDA and software in any form useful to the application. In TSA delivery applications under the CCSP, the device can be used to write and maintain data on seal numbers, openings, date and duration among other fields.

Sentinel Seal is backed by the DataStore Program which means that all data recorded by the seal can be downloaded into Tamper Proof reports that cannot be altered or manipulated. The reports can be used in evidence in a court of law because the data cannot be altered. The Sentinel Seal come with a hardened powder coated steel weather cover and is designed for out of doors operation. The device has an internal light for use in the dark.
The differences in utility and function of the Sentinel Seal as compared to the Unisto seal are dramatic and make the Sentinel Seal a far better long term and security investment.