Don't Believe Everything You Hear

Four Commonly-held Security Myths

Everyone in the security business wants to help protect you from crime, and if it benefits them too, what’s the rub? In most cases, nothing. However, never forget the age-old warning, “caveat emptor”—let the buyer beware. The market is filled with vendors who are aggressively promoting their wares. Some are more scrupulous and knowledgeable than others in their claims. Here are a few of the common myths you may hear, and what you need to know about them.

1. "This feature can't be counterfeited."

   In the simplest sense, anything that can be mass-produced can be counterfeited, given sufficient time and resources. Anyone claiming a technology can’t be counterfeited is demonstrating his or her ignorance and would not be a reliable business partner.

   In the broader sense, the test of any security device is not whether it can be exactly replicated but how easily it can be replicated sufficiently to pass inspection or be circumvented completely. Vendors who integrate taggants—special markers—into their stocks like to boast that their technology cannot be replicated. For the most part, that’s true. However, they aren’t quick to tell you that without the detection equipment, the taggant is useless. Putting a taggant on a check, for instance, would be a very effective method of identifying counterfeits. However, the detection equipment would have to be installed at every point of acceptance or that fake check could still enter the payment system. Criminals don’t care who gets stuck with the losses of their crime.
   

2. "This feature provides scanner protection."

   Scanner “protection” has been getting a lot of attention in the security business lately. The ease with which a criminal can scan and reproduce an authentic-looking item on inexpensive computer equipment is frightening. Security features that would prevent scanning sound desirable. However, criminals don’t typically try to pass off computer screens and images as original items. With the powerful and inexpensive software that’s available today, they can edit and enhance the images. The key, then, to protecting against scanned and reproduced images is not the scanner, but in preventing the printed output from being confused with the original item.
   

3. "Printed features aren't as secure as mill-applied features."

   Though it seems logical that adding security features in the paper would be better than applying them on the paper, that’s not the case. The reality is that wet inks and coatings applied to a sheet penetrate into the stock, itself. In fact, many security technologies applied to the paper are actually more effective than in-pulp features. Consider chemical stains, for example. Press-applied stains can be printed in patterns, such as multiple language “voids,” which cannot be replicated with in-pulp stains. Both methods are comparable when exposed to tampering, but printed stains deliver a much clearer warning.
   

4. "Latent Images Require Intaglio Printing."

   What you need to know—Latent Images are hidden within the graphic structure of a document. When viewed at an oblique angle the "hidden" image becomes visible to a trained observer. Intaglio printers have been producing latent images for years, but the capability isn't limited to a particular print technology.

Standard Register: A Trusted Resource
Standard Register associates take pride in being part of the nation’s most trusted provider of document security services and solutions. The company has earned its reputation as a leader in document security with its innovative secure-document technologies and nearly a century of experience working with a business, industry and government. We are firmly committed to helping our clients deter fraud and mitigate risks by sharing our expertise and continuing to develop new technologies to meet emerging document security issues.