Special Report: How Do You Keep Your Printing Secure?

Using certain papers and processes can ensure the projects you print for clients are secure and tamper resistant. Whether it’s plasitic ID cards, labels, documents or other printed items, the use of tamper resistant devices, such as holograms and hidden messages, help secure documents in a society where privacy is highly regarded, but unfortunately becoming a thing of the past.

A number of product distributors to the printing industry offer a secure surface on which to print. Following are a few exceptional products that may help you get the confidence of your customers when they need a tamper resistant document or product produced.

Blanks/USA has an aptly named Kan’t Kopy Security Paper that offers counterfeit resistant printing to secure originals. With its high-performance, anti-counterfeiting, patented technology, Kan’t Kopy products protect documents and provide multiple security features to guarantee the safety of documents if they are copied. The company also offers customized pantographs, watermarks and color options to address special customer needs and requirements.

According to Jean Tate, the marketing communications manager at Blanks/USA, Minneapolis, “Sales of Kan’t Kopy Security Paper continue to grow. The medical industry leads the way with security paper needs for prescription pads. Some states have even signed new legislation that requires customized security features to be added to the paper for prescription pads in their state.

“We are experiencing growth in this product for other applications as well,” she added. They are:
• Secondary and post-secondary educational institution transcripts and grades;
• Tickets to avoid duplication;
• Companies sending out valuable coupons or promotions;
• Legal documents and manuals.

Aaron Singer, a document security specialist at Micro Format - Secure Guard, in Wheeling, Ill., noted that secure documents are in high demand right now. “We were not affected by the recent downturn in the economy. This year we are up approximately 20 to 25 percent,“ he said.
“We manufacture a variety of security paper for different applications. The most common uses for our products are for prescriptions, coupons/gift certificates, manuals and protecting any document that you want to be able to indentify as an original.”

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Micro-Format’s product, COPY OBSCURE, is unique in that when copied, a special embedded hidden message will appear on the photocopy. When standard size text (12 point or smaller) is printed in light gray on the original, this hidden message will obscure the text on the photocopy.
COPY OBSCURE is a 60-lb. security paper with ink and toner erasure protection. It is recommended for booklets, manuals, financial reports and all confidential documents.

Features include of this product are:
• Hidden Message Security on FRONT of the sheet;
• 60-lb. check weight security paper;
• Sheet size: 8.5x11 inches;
• Unique gray security background;
• Distinctive background provides “Erasure” protection;
• Hidden message technlogy;
• “ILLEGAL UNAUTHORIZED COPY” message is activated when document is photocopied using most black/white and color copiers.

Another strong beleiver in the use of hidden words in documents is Simpson Security Papers in Burlington, Iowa. The company’s VoidSecure product combines the features of its traditional security paper with the most technically advanced hidden “Void” pantograph to provide an extra layer of security and reassurance. This “Void” pantograph will appear when photocopied, allowing for an easy, visual check to ensure your product is not being reproduced.

As part of the SecureChoice family of products, this paper has been engineered for excellent security, printability and durability for demanding applications. It is chemically sensitive to a variety of document altering chemicals including bleach, ink eradicators, polar solvents and nonpolar solvents. This feature produces a visible stain or starburst reaction in the paper when document altering chemicals are applied.

It also contains TonerSecure, a strong deterrent that enhances the bond between the paper and toner.

VoidSecure is UV Dull and contains “invisible fluorescent fibers” that can be seen with an ultraviolet light source, and has coin rub back printing to authenticate the document.
A special blend of ink and background imaging are used to help protect against modification, and a three-dimensional image can be seen when a Verilens is placed on top of the sheet to validate the document.

VoidSecure provides excellent performance in a variety of printing applications including MICR/OCR, laser, web and sheetfed offset, intaglio, foil stamping and engraving. This paper is extremely durable and engineered to withstand the rigors of high-speed check sorting with excellent performance. The paper is stocked in Basketweave and Solid blue, green and slate.
While some are seeing positive signs of recovery in the industry, Tony Orsello, general manager, Northstar-Brooklyn Park, Minn. (a division of Ennis Inc.), noted that “Overall, the security printing market appears to be down about 20-25 percent. There are several possible indicators for this decline. Some customers have cut back on the number of features used in a particular item. The biggest savings we have seen is with the paper being used. We have also seen a large shift in products as the market moves away from multiple part documents towards the laser world. This reduces material and thus reduces the cost for the customer.

As far as Ennis products are concerned, the company “continues to strive towards implementing a tiered approach when building a secure product for our customers. This effort helps deter potential counterfeiters by creating roadblocks that essentially make duplication and alteration more difficult. Though a counterfeiter may defeat one or two of the initial defense elements, the layered process assists in their missing the more covert security features which help in the authentication of documents,” Orsello said.

“In the event that damage is done and an unauthorized check is cashed, the tiered approach helps prove without a shadow of a doubt that the document has been forged. This also acts as protection for the customer as they have proven due diligence,” he explained.

The firm’s bestselling product this year has been retail money order products. “We are manufacturing more than 8 million money orders each week for two national companies as well as for all of the major regional retail money order players,” Orsello noted. “Because of certain factors in the economy, there has been increased demand for these products vs. a decline for a payment methods such as checks. Other great performers include the high-end secure software compatible checks, as well as state titled government issued checks and documents.”

What does he expect for the remainder of the year for the industry? “We seem to be following the market for the most part. We expect to see things level off where they are and anticipate that business could be flat the rest of the year,” he noted.

On the Plastic Side
One of the leaders on the plastic ID card side of the security printing market is Zebra Technologies International in Vernon Hills, Ill. The company offers techonlogy to print advanced security ID card solutions. In an effort to combat card counterfeiting and unauthorized alterations and duplications with levels of customizable security features Zebra offers preprinted cards, True Secure laminates and security class card printers.

Printers can start with a high-quality Zebra plastic card containing their choice of preprinted security features and built-in security materials. Using Zebra’s Security class on-demand card printers, encode magnetic stripes, radio frequency identification tags for proximity cards, or smart chips for data security in smart cards, plus print variable text and vibrant ID photos. For higher card security and durability, printers can add laminates embedded with additional overt, covert and forensic features.

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Zebra P630i and P640i card printers are designed for high-volume, high-security applications. The P640i card printer is for dual-sided printing and one-pass dual-sided lamination, and the P630i printer is designed for dual-sided printing and single-sided lamination. They provide the maximum amount of flexibility in protecting driver’s licenses and other types of secure ID cards such as:
• Government and military ID cards;
• High security access control ID cards;
• Law enforcement and correctional facility ID cards;
• Airport personnel ID cards;
• And, applications requiring secure issuance of long-lasting, tamper-evident IDs.

With Zebra’s P630i/P640i card printers, printing firms can extend their range of contactless ID cards to as much as 30 feet with secure, long-range RFID ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) technology. With this technology, clients can efficiently control and monitor access to high-security organizations and areas, track people’s locations, and relieve congestion by validating or counting people simultaneously, as well as track assets.

For printers who have prospective clients who demand secure and tamper resistant products these products could give your business an edge over the competition.

Kodak Introduces Virtually Invisible Ink

Adding to the diverse capabilities of the KODAK NEXPRESS Fifth Imaging Unit Solutions with Print Genius, Kodak is introducing a new virtually invisible clear ink. KODAK NEXPRESS Red Fluorescing Dry Ink is clear to the naked eye, but becomes red fluorescing when illuminated with an appropriate ultraviolet (UV) light source.
The ink can be used to print unobtrusive images and non-reproducible bar codes on various printed materials, which then can be read with specialized bar code readers. The NEXPRESS Red Fluorescing Dry Ink enables a wide range of security and inventory management applications, including certified documents, such as medical prescription pads, drivers’ licenses and event tickets.
“This innovative expansion of the NEXPRESS Fifth Imaging Unit Solutions allows digital print service providers to enter the lucrative and growing secure documents and ‘track and trace’ markets,” said Steve Fletcher, General Manager, Electrophotographic Printing Solutions, Vice President, Kodak. “The amazing versatility of the family of KODAK NEXPRESS Digital Production Color Presses is designed to help print service providers stay on the forefront of a demanding, quickly changing marketplace.”
This new ink allows clear bar codes to be printed inline and can encompass variable data printing, allowing each printed piece to be marked with unique information. The NEXPRESS Red Fluorescing Dry Ink can be easily exchanged with other Fifth Imaging Unit Solutions, allowing print service providers to efficiently move between various types of printing projects. The new ink creates opportunities for current NEXPRESS Press customers to offer new services to their existing customer bases and enter new markets. It will allow commercial printers to expand their digital print operations into secure documents and other businesses, and will provide book printers with new ways to take advantage of inventory management and automation improvements. Commercial printers can also use the clear bar code for their internal workflow for downstream finishing and binding operations.
The NEXPRESS Red Fluorescing Dry Ink is the latest addition to the NEXPRESS Fifth Imaging Unit Solutions, which also allows dimensional printing that creates a raised-print, 3D effect; coating applications, which can be used to increase durability or add watermarks; clear protection and gloss coating using the nearline KODAK NEXPRESS Glossing Unit; color gamut expansion with red, green, and blue dry inks; and MICR applications for secure, machine-readable documents.
Kodak worked with bar code reader pioneer InData Systems to develop a red fluorescing dry ink application that would be widely adaptable in the field, allowing it to be printed on a variety of backgrounds. InData Systems of Skaneateles, N.Y. is a world leader in bar code reading products designed for the bar code security industry, which uses covert or hidden bar codes for product authentication, tracking, and information retrieval.
“This new ink from Kodak opens up a number of new markets for digital printing,” said John Hattersley, President of InData Systems. “It’s a huge breakthrough, because now one printing application can include both a pass/fail authentication system and include a significant amount of unique, identifying information.”
The red fluorescing bar code itself is the pass/fail authentication. It is difficult to counterfeit and if the bar code does not light up for the UV reader, the document is not genuine. The NEXPRESS Press with Print Genius has an advantage over conventional inks for this application. Offset inks, liquid toner, and inkjet inks tend to spread when printed. The NEXPRESS Press can create very sharp lines in the 2D bar codes enabling higher read accuracy with smaller bar code sizes. This makes the bar codes less intrusive. This feature can be used in a wide range of secure document applications, including identification documents, event tickets and coupons. The bar code itself can encode additional information that might verify the information on a secure document, such as a lottery ticket, pharmaceutical prescription pad or school transcript. Clear security images can be used instead of barcodes for lower-level security applications or verification of documents with UV illumination only without the need for a bar code reader. For applications such as passports, credit cards or drivers’ licenses, the bar code can encode the identity information about the bearer (such as birth date) making it more difficult to counterfeit or alter sensitive documents. Additionally, the bar codes can aid in inventory management, indicating specific handling for versioned textbooks, catalogs or other products.
The fact that the ink is clear with normal lighting has both security and aesthetic benefits. On many backgrounds the ink will appear nearly invisible without the UV light, enhancing its effectiveness as a security tool and allowing the bar code to be placed in locations where a standard black-ink bar code would not be acceptable.
Like all NEXPRESS Fifth Imaging Unit Solutions, the red fluorescing dry ink creates prints that are recyclable. The dry ink also contains no volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
Kodak will show off sample applications using the red fluorescing dry ink at Ipex 2010, stand 9-E320. Attendees will be able to see a golf admission ticket and a membership id card with an authentication images and a science textbook cover with the bar code information optimized for work flow automation and inventory management. The new NEXPRESS Red Fluorescing Dry Ink will be available commercially in June of this year.
Also at Ipex, Kodak is unveiling the new Print Genius website showcasing the innovation of the KODAK NEXPRESS SE Digital Production Color Presses and the technology under the covers that enable photographic quality, high productivity, and lowered cost of ownership. In addition to the suite of customer solutions delivered through quality control tools and options for managing and maintaining peak quality throughout a production run, Print Genius also supports the value-added applications and solutions of the Fifth Imaging Unit Solutions, including the use of the new red fluorescing dry ink.?