A Better Mousetrap
Document security is no joke. Forgers and counterfeiters grow more sophisticated every day, and if your document security can't keep up, you could lose out on business. While staying up on the newest security features and counterfeiting methods is important, so too is enacting a thorough and effective process for adding features in the first place. Below, some of the industry's top security experts explain the best ways to add security to your documents.
Perform a risk analysis
One of the first steps in undertaking a security printing job is figuring out what level of security is needed on the document. Roger Buck, marketing director for The Flesh Company, St. Louis, explained this determination can be made by doing a "risk analysis survey" with all of a client's employees that will be dealing with the document or affected by fraud against it. The survey will gather each relevant employee's input, giving you a good idea of how much and what kinds of security features will be needed on the document.
What questions you put on the survey are up to you, but in the example provided in the Flesh Company whitepaper "Risk Analysis in Document Security: Assessing and Defending Against Potential Threats," the questions cover topics such as, "What types of document security or counterfeit attacks, if any, have you seen against your company's products or services?" and, "What happens to your department when a document security or counterfeit attack occurs?" The example survey in the white paper is about 75 questions long, though it is divided by department (sales, legal, etc.) so the actual number of questions any one person would be answering is closer to 35.
The full whitepaper can be found at www.fleshco.com/sales-and-support/whitepapers.php. Besides the sample survey, the whitepaper contains instructions and tips on conducting the survey, such as:
"Whatever order the interview process unfolds in, it makes the most sense to do executive management interviews last, as you will have increased knowledge of potential issues related to counterfeit attacks on the company. When interviewing executive management, all of the questions should be asked, dividing each segment of the interviews into sections by each department category of impact (i.e. "Let's talk about the impact of counterfeit attacks on customer service and production ... now let's talk about how it could affect marketing ... sales, etc."). This will cause executive management to focus on how all encompassing a counterfeit attack could be on the company, and help them to more fully appreciate the potential damages and costs associated with legal ramifications, employee and customer relations, marketing and brand image, and most importantly ... sales revenue."
After the survey, ask more questions
After your risk analysis is done, there are still plenty of questions to ask your client. "What type of users will be authenticating the document? How many people will be authenticating? Are those who are authenticating sufficiently educated in security identification?," John LaBrant, regional sales director, value document inks for SICPA Securink Corp., Springfield, Va., said. "The most important aspect of adding security to documents is customer education achieved through communication. Printers need to work with their clients in a collaborative process and align security needs with the lifecycle of a secure document," he explained. "By designing a program which directly meets authentication needs, the printer can advise clients in creation of a cost-effective product with targeted security features, designed to defeat specific problems."
Get started at the product's design stage
When adding security features, it can be much more effective to add them to a new document in the design stage, rather than to an existing, predesigned document. LaBrant explained.
"It is imperative for companies to have an integrated approach to security, considering design and aesthetics in the evaluation process," he said. "When included at the design stage, security features offer protective elements that tend to resist counterfeit or forgery more effectively than by simply assigning a security feature to an already existing printed item." He explained that is because inks are offered in so many colors and styles, the design options are almost limitless and printers can produce secure, attractive documents without dramatically increasing costs.
Layer overt and covert
When you and your client are picking security features to add, be sure to add a mix of solutions. "One of the best practices for adding security features that Wilmer uses with our check programs is to layer the security using both overt (visible) and covert (not visible) security features," Larry Willman, senior product manager for Wilmer, Dayton, Ohio, said. "Some overt security features are watermarks, heat-sensitive ink and micro printing. Covert security features include UV fibers, tonerfuse and chemical stain."
Layering security features adds complexity to a document. "With a multi-layered system, even if a counterfeiter discovers one security feature, they likely won't find them all, guaranteeing a document that can still be authenticated as genuine," said LaBrant.