A method of authenticating a product, comprising: capturing an image of a product to be authenticated; determining a plurality of reference points (T 1 , ..., T 7 ) of the captured image; comparing the plurality of reference points of the captured image of the product to be authenticated with a plurality of reference points (R 1 ,...,R 6 ) of a previously captured reference image of a genuine product; characterized by further comprising aligning a plurality of said reference points of the image of the product to be authenticated with a plurality of said reference points of the image of the genuine product prior to comparing the reference points, wherein the reference points (T 1 , ..., T 7 ) of the captured image are parts of the product with distinctive characteristics that make the reference points recognizable under partial degradation of the image; wherein comparing the plurality of reference points of the image of the product to be authenticated with the plurality of reference points of the image of the genuine product comprises determining if a reference point of the plurality of reference points of the image of the product to be authenticated is within a defined distance of a reference point of the plurality of reference points of the image of the genuine product; and determining a total number of reference points of the image of the product to be authenticated which are within said defined distance of a reference point of the image of the genuine product within a region of the image; determining a ratio of said total number of reference points of the image of the product to be authenticated which are within said defined distance to the total number of reference points in the image; and authenticating the product if the ratio is above a predetermined threshold value. capturing an image of a product to be authenticated; determining a plurality of reference points (T 1 , ..., T 7 ) of the captured image; comparing the plurality of reference points of the captured image of the product to be authenticated with a plurality of reference points (R 1 ,...,R 6 ) of a previously captured reference image of a genuine product; characterized by further comprising aligning a plurality of said reference points of the image of the product to be authenticated with a plurality of said reference points of the image of the genuine product prior to comparing the reference points, wherein the reference points (T 1 , ..., T 7 ) of the captured image are parts of the product with distinctive characteristics that make the reference points recognizable under partial degradation of the image; wherein comparing the plurality of reference points of the image of the product to be authenticated with the plurality of reference points of the image of the genuine product comprises determining if a reference point of the plurality of reference points of the image of the product to be authenticated is within a defined distance of a reference point of the plurality of reference points of the image of the genuine product; and determining a total number of reference points of the image of the product to be authenticated which are within said defined distance of a reference point of the image of the genuine product within a region of the image; determining a ratio of said total number of reference points of the image of the product to be authenticated which are within said defined distance to the total number of reference points in the image; and authenticating the product if the ratio is above a predetermined threshold value. <EOS>