Databases storing digital fingerprints of physical objects enable enhanced security and collaborative authentication. Digital fingerprints enable reliable identification of an object without the need for attaching or associating physical tags, labels or other identifying materials with the object; and serialization for identification also is obviated. By combining digital fingerprinting and data collaboration in one process, parties to the data collaboration can gain a level of certainty that data attributed to an object by different parties or at different times is attributed to only that object and not erroneously attributed to an incorrect or counterfeit object. Collaborative authentication platforms and processes, combining digital fingerprint databases with associated incentive databases, contribute enhanced information to the authentication databases, and provide unparalleled reliability and enriched metadata to supply chain tracking, detecting counterfeit objects, and other applications.