Today, forgery and counterfeiting are very much a reality in most industries. People often crave access to something they are not entitled to, whether out of curiosity or rooted in more sinister gain.
In order to combat fraud and ensure that unauthorised personnel do not gain access to restricted areas, many end user organisations are now using ID card solutions to great effect.
Detailing the holder’s name, photograph and/or signature – or colour coding cards to show access entitlement – makes it easier to identify the owner at a glance. That said, what’s to stop someone duplicating these ID cards and gaining access to restricted areas? In some cases nothing at all, other than access to a standard plastic card printer.
Higher forms of security
Ask yourself a question: “How easy would it be to forge the ID cards at your facility?” If someone has the right equipment, the answer is: “Very easy”… If this thought concerns you, then it’s worth looking at updating your card printing system to one which supplies higher forms of security, is virtually impossible to forge and which may be easily verified and authenticated as and when necessary.
There are a few well-established methods of providing extra security on ID cards used in high security areas. The most effective is ultraviolet printing, holograms embedded into the laminate overlay card and what is known as ‘microtext’ printing.
Similarly, there are many different printers on the market, but offering one of the best specifications for high security ID cards is the Zebra P640i. This card printer can cope with customised ultraviolet and precision microtext printing, in addition to customisable hologram laminates. An optional ID Key feature prevents any unauthorised printer use. Finally, the printers also offer a range of encoding options for magnetic, smart and proximity cards to enable the production of access control passes.
Customised ultraviolet designs
An ultraviolet hologram printed across the surface of an ID card is not visible to the naked eye, but under an ultraviolet light this high security feature does become visible and can be a very effective way of authenticating a card. Printing customised ultraviolet designs on a card further increases security, while also offering instant visual recognition.
A hologram image – such as a logo – can be built into the printer’s laminate overlay, offering a greater level of visual security and card durability. These holograms are available in a standard design or may be fully-customised with a specific logo or image.
Introducing the company name or some other test in tiny print onto the background of a card – much like on bank notes – is an exceptionally difficult feature to copy. Microtext is usually printed in font sizes as small as three point. That’s less than fifteen one thousands of an inch. In fact, most ID card printers cannot duplicate this function so, if introduced, ID cards with this feature really are virtually impossible to reproduce.
Make counterfeiting difficult
Having one or all of these features present on high security ID cards makes counterfeiting so difficult that forgeries could be detected instantly, and any potential security breaches avoided. A combination of all three and the end user is virtually guaranteed that your high security ID cards are secure.
Of course, all of this security is only going to be effective if access to the printer is limited to authorised users. The optional ID Key feature uses a small coded key which must be present in the printer before it will function.
Different keys can be given to each authorised user, while details of the cards they print – including the date and time of issue – are recorded in the ID Log software utility.
