Heightened Security
SICPA Securink may not be a household name, but we’re most likely carrying the Washington, D.C.-based company’s product in our wallets and purses everyday. “Our primary business model is banknote inks [used to print currency], and we have an overwhelming global market share in that field,” explained SICPA Vice President of Sales and Marketing Thomas L. Jay. “We also have a value document inks (VDI) division, which is responsible for the security inks used to print checks, prescription pads, ID cards, passports and visas.”
Interestingly, some of the company’s more sophisticated security ink products—such as the 3-D color-shifting ink with magnetic properties, the ink used to create the rolling color bar and the SPARK product that makes an image highlighted on one side and dark on the other when it’s tilted—are not capable of running offset, which is the printing method used in check manufacturing.
Color shifting inks, for example, contain larger particles of pigment and will not flow easily through offset press rollers, particularly if the printer has them set too tight, causing the inks to back up on the rollers and destroying the effect. Similarly, a water fugitive ink can only be printed in dry offset, and not wet offset, since it will react on the press.
“Many of the new [ink] technologies have not followed into the offset area, but can run flexo,” observed Jay. SICPA’s formulations that are applicable for offset, however, include solvent reactive inks, thermochromatic inks, invisible fluorescents, coin reactive artificial watermark inks and magnetic inks for MICR lines. “We sometimes work with printers who adapt a flexo coater unit to run a flexo-type security ink, but essentially, the offset process is a bit limiting,” he said.
Another issue for check printers, and the marketplace in general, is the fact that larger-scale counterfeiting operations have some of the same equipment the manufacturers use. “We do have ink systems of a very high proprietary nature which the bad guys have yet to figure out, but, lets face it, except for the people doing things on digital scanners and copiers for a one-time-use document, these are not casual counterfeiters out there,” Jay continued.
Secret Agents
To confound counterfeiters, SICPA layers security elements into each of its inks. “We may put a fluorescent marker in a thermochromic ink to make it a little more special. We also put fluorescent markers in solvent reactive inks and MICR inks,” Jay explained. “So, one particular ink features several different security properties. Many [distributors] are not aware of this. All of our inks are special in that they respond to some stimulus. A counterfeiter may be able to recreate the color of the ink, but not its properties.”
He went on to comment that while there is legislation detailing which security features must be on prescription pads, there are no rules when it comes to checks. However, the prevailing wisdom is to incorporate multiple security elements into the products. “A solvent-reactive ink may be used to print the check background, and underlying that may be a security paper; there will certainly be indications if some solvent or reagent is used to alter [the document],” stated Jay.
SICPA’s membership in the Document Security Alliance is one way the company stays in touch with marketplace challenges to aid its research and development. “Being based in Washington, D.C., we also learn a lot by going to the people who investigate the problems—the Secret Service, the FBI and the Federal Reserve. We are fairly well connected in this industry,” continued Jay. “In fact, [earlier this month] our VDI group hosted 10 people from the Department of Homeland Security’s forensic document lab for a workshop session on security inks. Each year, we have about eight different government agencies come through for something similar, especially for their new trainees who need to lean about security inks.”
Security does come at a cost, remarked Jay. Manufacturers playing in a price-driven commodity market for the more common ink systems, are used to negotiating very hard with their vendors for low pricing. So, they may be in for a bit of sticker shock when purchasing security inks.
“Although we are priced right in the market, when we go to sell a theromochromic ink for $75 per pound to manufacturers who buy a black ink for $2 or $3 per pound, they kind of panic sometimes if [they are] not very familiar with this type of product,” he said. “However, the amount of thermochromic ink you use on a [check] is relatively small. It’s not like buying a process set of CMYK inks. The yields are similar or a little lower than the commercial inks, and really go a long way. In actuality, the cost of adding security to documents is not all that great.”
Of course, there is no silver bullet for winning the war against fraud and counterfeiting, concluded Jay, but there are numerous technologies—particularly the marriage of security inks and papers—that for the time being are enabling the good guys to claim victory in key battles.
Related story: Into the Future of Check Security
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