Simple solutions for adding printed security elements to your Plastic ID Badges.
“Security breach cost big business bucks!”. You could have picked this headline or comment out of any of hundreds or thousands of headlines or line copy from talking heads or news stories. For every physical or virtual security “wall” we can build, the bad guys are always looking for five ways to tunnel under, leap over or knock it down.
One common method for breaching a company, educational institution or even government facility is related to counterfeit Plastic Identification Cards.
ID cards have become extremely common. It’s one of the first things you get as a new student or worker. Along with the broad adaption of custom plastic ID cards has come better, smaller, faster and cheaper technology for issuing these cards. That’s the good news for the Plastic ID card issuer, unfortunately, it’s also the bad news.
Given the readily available hardware the seedy side of society has jumped at the chance to reproduce credentials for a variety of illicit purposes. It is actually a very large underground business.
So what’s a card issuer to do to protect the integrity of a program? There is probably no guaranteed “fool proof” solution but there are a few simple printing techniques that can make your Custom Plastic ID card program more secure with a quick and easily identified visual that can authenticate a card.
- Optically Variable Ink (OVI) – This same ink technology is used on US currency. It is an ink that could be used to print a logo, text or other graphic elements in a 2 phase color shifting ink. At one angle the color is different than when viewed from another angle.
- UV Visible – This ink treatment is commonplace in credit cards and drives license security. Certain elements of the art could be printed with this ink that is only visible when held under an Ultra Violet light source (think black light).
- Micro Printing – ultra fine printing of extremely small point text looks like a line at first glance. Under close inspection, typically with a magnifying glass, the wording would become apparent.
- Embedded Hologram or Foils – Adding a hologram , foil stamp pattern or logo under the card laminate of plastic ID Badgers is a highly durable, and visibly appealing security method.
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- Card Serialization – Plastic Id card issuers start with either a blank card or a pre-printed card with space for the card holders name, photo, and other information. The thefts of these “blanks” are a common issue. Adding a serial number to your cards in inventory can be a very effective method for tracking usage and creating an audit trail.