Pick a card… Not just any card
Peoples’ IDs have never had such a high profile. Whether identity cards are demanded by businesses for access to their premises, by schools for identifying students or public organisations to ensure customer visibility, it’s vital that information integrity can be secured as there’s always a risk that a given person’s details might be compromised.
Card fraud is a growing concern for security professionals, with advances in everyday hardware and software allowing the fraudsters to purchase graphic design programmes, image capture devices and printers and produce a professional-looking standard ID card.
Similarly, the proliferation of web sites offering fake IDs offers a convenient route to this lucrative market. Indeed, a simple search for ‘ID cards’ on an Internet search engine reveals over seven million responses many of them from individuals offering to produce fake ID cards.
Emphasising the risks
A typical ID card design is extremely simple, easy to produce and visually functional. The flipside is that the benefits and simplicity of a typical ID card also make it easy to forge. As a result, many client organisations are rapidly beginning to question how secure they really are.
The risks aren’t limited to direct security threats such as unauthorised site entry, theft or injury to employees. People assume that an ID card is legitimate because of its very existence. Due to this, the brand integrity of an organisation may be severely compromised if its ID cards are misused or counterfeited. Fake student IDs used to obtain a concessionary discount or, more seriously, allow bogus electricity meter readers to gain entry to peoples’ homes are examples of situations where identities have been misused.
All of which means that the onus lies squarely with companies to take their own ID solutions to the next level and defeat the counterfeiters. One obvious way of achieving this is to make security features integral to the ID card design. Customers can now benefit directly from state-of-the-art solutions originally developed for high risk applications like passports or bank notes.
Overt and covert technologies
The range of anti-counterfeit and authentication technologies available includes both overt and covert devices. There are Guilloche patterns and fine line designs (familiar, of course, from their use on bank note production). There’s also ultraviolet print and Microtext solutions only visible under ultraviolet light and magnification respectively. Optically Variable Devices such as holograms can also be added to provide instant verification and additional security.
These security technologies make copying and counterfeiting a card much more difficult, and can be readily incorporated into the core of each card to provide an extra level of protection. In truth, this can make the difference between a secure ID solution and a merely cosmetic one.
The versatility of personal ID cards is further proven by their ability to carry other functional benefits. Obvious applications might include a magnetic stripe for door access or barcodes for membership (in libraries, for instance). Of late, RFID-based contactless smart cards employing the Mifare technology have enabled end users to add elements like travel concessions and cashless vending.
Outsourcing production processes
With so much on offer, it makes sense for the in-house practitioner to outsource card production requirements to specialist suppliers of personal ID solutions particularly so when the costly investment and practicalities of arranging an in-house card production system are taken into consideration).
Large employers such as local Councils often have sites and facilities spread out across a wide geographical area. Colleges or hospitals might also have a large number of people enrolling at a specific time. In this instance, card production can be a time-consuming and challenging logistical practice. The related expense of purchasing a suitable ID system, and the work hours needed to train members of staff, are costs that must also be factored-in.
In a managed solution, all that’s required is for data and photographs to be sent to the card manufacturing facility where trained staff will then take charge of the complete card production process. Potential methods of data transfer might include direct access via secure server, or the use of a web-based online ordering portal. It should go without saying that customers must check the card manufacturer has strict data management policies in place to prevent loss or any potential malicious use.
Low cost per card
Modern digital printing techniques deliver a superb quality, highly durable finish for a low cost per card. The ID is personalised at the same time as printing due to the unique digital processes involved. These processes not only ‘lock’ all the details into the core of the card, in turn providing extended durability and security, but also mean that additional time and energy on having to personalise a given card at a later stage.
The results will lst for several years, and offer an exceptional read rate for both conventional barcode reading equipment and contactless smart card technology.
It’s worth end users checking whether or not their supplier can provide a design service that will integrate security and other features alongside essential corporate and branding information such that a unified overall appearance is the outcome. Similarly, some suppliers offer fulfilment of cards to complete a total card service solution. This ensures that all cards are delivered back to one central location or even directly to the specific recipient quickly, efficiently and at low cost.
Many organisations now realise that by passing on the ‘hassle’ of having to produce their company ID cards, they’re not only ending up with a more professional, durable and secure card regime, but they’re also making significant savings when it comes to the time, money and resources they previously committed to the whole process.
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