Three protocols for securing the data pipeline of the international supply chain

In order to make the international supply chain system highly efficient in worldwide transportation of goods, its business processes should be supported by high quality information systems that, “24x7”, provide the right data, at the right time, at the right place, to the right person. To do so, the idea of a (virtual) “Seamless Integrated Data Pipeline” has been proposed, a new concept of an effective information exchange system. A key requirement of the Data Pipeline is that the information to be exchanged must be safe and reliable. Starting form the idea that existing systems should be used, this paper proposes three basic protocols that enable the secure exchange of data with respect to three identified security requirements, namely, that of secure identification of supply chain partners, that of harmonization of security levels, and that of harmonization of trust levels