NEW YORK, NY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / October 8, 2025 / History is full of moments when the world came dangerously close to catastrophe, not because of an enemy's firepower, but because of uncertainty. During the Cold War, radar glitches and sensor errors nearly triggered nuclear retaliation more than once. In 1983, Soviet lieutenant colonel Stanislav Petrov refused to act on a computer warning of a U.S. missile strike, a "false positive" that could have set off Armageddon. The lesson is chilling. What separates escalation from restraint is not always strength or diplomacy. Sometimes it is a guess made in minutes, based on flawed information.

That same fragility remains today. Modern systems are built on networks and supply chains that assume authenticity. The moment that assumption is broken, the margin for error disappears. The discovery of 300 servers and 100,000 SIM cards hidden in New York apartments proved that infiltration no longer requires missiles or fleets. Ordinary hardware, strategically placed, can create chaos that appears to be an attack. If activated, emergency calls could have been blocked, hospitals cut off, and communications gridlocked. The response would have been swift and severe. Escalation would not have been optional. It would have been unavoidable.

This is where SMX (Security Matters, NASDAQ:SMX) enters the story. Its platform provides what history has lacked: proof before panic. By embedding microscopic molecular markers into materials like plastics, chips, and telecom hardware, SMX creates a permanent, machine-readable identity for every component. What once passed as anonymous becomes verifiable in seconds. Proof replaces guesswork. That difference could mean the gap between restraint and retaliation.

When Silence Looks Like Sabotage

The nightmare today is not bombs falling from the sky. It is silence inside the networks we rely on. Phone's dead. Grids stalled. Sensors blind. A quiet disruption that forces a loud response. Once society perceives an attack, governments act as though war has already started. The first domino is not the blackout itself. It is the retaliation that follows.

That dynamic explains why infiltration is so attractive to adversaries. A SIM farm does not need to cause permanent damage to succeed. It only needs to create confusion at scale. The U.S. or any major power, facing hospitals without communication or nuclear sensors gone dark, would be forced to respond. Escalation comes not from the size of the initial strike, but from the certainty it creates in the minds of leaders.

SMX changes that equation. By embedding proof at the component level, counterfeit hardware becomes visible before it can be activated. A cloned SIM cannot hide. A counterfeit router is rejected before it joins the grid. A sensor that does not match its chain of custody is stopped by default. Proof prevents silence from masquerading as sabotage. It turns uncertainty into certainty, and with certainty, the pressure to retaliate evaporates.

Proof That Scales Across Industries

For decades, security has leaned on after-the-fact audits and forensics. Those tools are important, but they arrive late. Once escalation begins, evidence does not matter. The damage is already in motion. Prevention must happen earlier, and prevention at scale requires proof that can be embedded into the materials themselves.

That is the breakthrough SMX delivers. Its molecular markers cannot be scrubbed or cloned. They transform every component into a verifiable asset with a digital twin stored in an immutable ledger. One scan answers three critical questions: where did this part originate, who handled it, and is it the same one that passed certification? The answer comes in machine minutes, not human months. That speed erases the time gap that attackers depend on.

Just as important, the model is proven beyond security. SMX already applies its platform in industries where authenticity drives value. The same markers that certify recycled plastics can certify a telecom chip. The same ledger that authenticates steel can authenticate grid hardware. Fraud is fraud, whether it targets commerce or national defense. Proof does not just scale across markets. It scales across risks.

Breaking History's Pattern

History does not repeat because adversaries are brilliant. It repeats because societies wait until prevention is no longer possible. The Cold War demonstrated how close the world came to disaster due to uncertainty. The Trojan Horse shows how trust without verification can destroy even the strongest defenses. Pearl Harbor and 9/11 show how quickly small openings can expand into years of conflict. The pattern is always the same: hesitation, surprise, escalation.

SMX offers a way to break that pattern. By embedding proof into the smallest parts of modern infrastructure, it transforms supply chains from vulnerabilities into fortresses. A modern Trojan Horse cannot pass inspection if every component carries a molecular fingerprint. A false positive cannot ignite global conflict if the hardware itself proves its authenticity. Proof is the missing layer history has always lacked, and SMX is making it available at scale.

About SMX

As global businesses face new and complex challenges relating to carbon neutrality and meeting new governmental and regional regulations and standards, SMX is able to offer players along the value chain access to its marking, tracking, measuring and digital platform technology to transition more successfully to a low-carbon economy.

Forward-Looking Statements

The information in this press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words "anticipate," "believe," "contemplate," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intends," "may," "will," "might," "plan," "possible," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "would" and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements in this press release may include, for example: matters relating to the Company's fight against abusive and possibly illegal trading tactics against the Company's stock; successful launch and implementation of SMX's joint projects with manufacturers and other supply chain participants of gold, steel, rubber and other materials; changes in SMX's strategy, future operations, financial position, estimated revenues and losses, projected costs, prospects and plans; SMX's ability to develop and launch new products and services, including its planned Plastic Cycle Token; SMX's ability to successfully and efficiently integrate future expansion plans and opportunities; SMX's ability to grow its business in a cost-effective manner; SMX's product development timeline and estimated research and development costs; the implementation, market acceptance and success of SMX's business model; developments and projections relating to SMX's competitors and industry; and SMX's approach and goals with respect to technology. These forward-looking statements are based on information available as of the date of this press release, and current expectations, forecasts and assumptions, and involve a number of judgments, risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing views as of any subsequent date, and no obligation is undertaken to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. As a result of a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, actual results or performance may be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Some factors that could cause actual results to differ include: the ability to maintain the listing of the Company's shares on Nasdaq; changes in applicable laws or regulations; any lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on SMX's business; the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations, and identify and realize additional opportunities; the risk of downturns and the possibility of rapid change in the highly competitive industry in which SMX operates; the risk that SMX and its current and future collaborators are unable to successfully develop and commercialize SMX's products or services, or experience significant delays in doing so; the risk that the Company may never achieve or sustain profitability; the risk that the Company will need to raise additional capital to execute its business plan, which may not be available on acceptable terms or at all; the risk that the Company experiences difficulties in managing its growth and expanding operations; the risk that third-party suppliers and manufacturers are not able to fully and timely meet their obligations; the risk that SMX is unable to secure or protect its intellectual property; the possibility that SMX may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors; and other risks and uncertainties described in SMX's filings from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

EMAIL: info@securitymattersltd.com

SOURCE: SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited