Often the emphasis is on
the security used to protect the data stored in a card, but what’s equally as
important are the security features techniques used to protect the data printed
on the card itself.
Laser engraving is nothing new, but the price
is dropping and more customers are looking at the security feature, says
Jonathan Bowen, sales manager at Digital Identification Solutions. The Greer,
S.C.-based company released the EDIsecure LCP 9000 Laser Color Personalization
System last year, one of the first desktop laser engraving systems that sells
for less than $100,000.
Digital Identification Solutions is targeting
the printer to the driver license and government markets in the Americas, Bowen
says. “Those who have huge issues with forged and faked cards are our primary
customers,” he says. The company is expecting to ship its first units this
fall.
Overseas more
governments are using laser engraving or looking at the technology as well,
says Chris Dyball, chief operating officer at Lasercard Corp. The Mountain
View, Calif.-based company provides national ID systems to a number of
countries. Costa Rica’s national ID and the U.S. and Canada’s Permanent
Resident Cards each use laser engraving, he says.
As governments are looking for better ways to
secure documents many are finding a solution in laser engraving. “The
predominant way of creating images on a card was dye transfer but many are
transitioning to laser engraving,” Dyball says.
Money matters
But with dye sublimation printers a fraction
of the cost of laser engraving why make the switch? “Laser engraving makes it
difficult to remove or alter the card information,” Bowen says. “The normal
person who wants to fake the card won’t bother with it, he’ll move on to
another target. It’s also expensive enough to keep the criminal element away
and technical enough to where if he got it he wouldn’t know what to do with
it.”
Laser engraving actually burns the
information into the card, Bowen says. “It burns through the top level and
reacts with the inner card body,” he says. “It’s impossible to scratch the
information off or remove it with chemicals.”
Information can sometimes be removed or
changed from cards printed on dye sublimation machines, Dyball says. “The image
is essentially at the surface,” he says. “You can then put a overlay over the
dye transfer image but even when you do that you can peel off the patch and
take solvent or a mild abrasive and remove it and the fraud would be difficult
to detect.”
Dye images can also suffer over time, Dyball
says. Temperature and humidity can affect the images over time causing them to
fade.
Laser engraving also creates a tactile
security feature on the card, Bowen says. When the information is burned into
the card body it creates raised ridges that can be felt, similar to an embossed
credit card. “When a state trooper pulls someone over and only has a few
minutes to validate an ID the tactile feature is great,” he says. “It’s
virtually impossible to forge on a desktop printer.”
Laser engraving also has the ability to print
changeable laser images and multiple laser images on cards, Bowen says. This
enables an issuer to print a last name and date of birth in the same area but
depending on what angle you hold the card what is seen changes. For example, at
one angle an individual will see the name but at another he will see the date
of birth.
To enable this feature an issuer has to make
some changes to its card stock manufacturing process and place a small lens on
the card body. The laser will then burn the information in at different angles
to enable the feature. “It’s a security feature you can see with the naked eye
and it’s impossible to create with any other type of desktop printer,” Bowen
says.
Laser printers have another advantage, no
consumables, such as printer ribbons, Dyball says. People with widely
distributed issuance sites are looking at laser engraving because of the
savings on consumables,” he says. “You have an upfront investment but savings
over time.”
Drawbacks of laser engraving
The high cost is one drawback to laser
engraving, another is the inability to print color images, Dyball says. “Laser
engraving over the past few years have gotten better at gray scale images,” he
says, noting that current engravers can modulate the pulse of the laser and get
much better gray scale images.
Some still want color, though, and use both
dye sublimation and laser engraving. “We have a customer in Italy who buys the
card bodies and color prints the photos and laser engraves the text,” Dyball
says.
As counterfeiters get more sophisticated and
governments want to increase security, laser engraving is one solution they may
look at.
Web: http://us.hanslaser.net
HAN'S LASER CORP.
2220 O'Toole Ave,San Jose, CA 95131
Phone: (+1) 408-774-9428
Fax: (+1) 669-900-4570
Email: laser@hanslaser.com
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