Header. The Role of Optical Security Media in Secure Identification

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1 Header The Role of Optical Security Media in Secure Identification Dr Christopher Dyball Chief Operating Officer, LaserCard Corporation November, N. Shoreline Blvd Mountain View, CA USA tel: fax: Copyright

2 The Problem We live in a dangerous world. Increasingly, security demands the use of credentials which definitively identify the holder of a document. At the same time, most identification documents are used to authenticate the user on a visual basis only. The driver licenses of most U.S. States (which have become de-facto nationally accepted identification documents for purposes such as airline boarding) are generally used in this manner and are widely counterfeited. Production of fraudulent versions of such simple documents is readily accomplished with current scanner and color printer technology and the resulting documents are often adequate to pass cursory visual inspection such as to allow minors to purchase alcohol or cigarettes. Such fraudulent documents, with minimal improvements, might also be sufficient to allow terrorists to board airplanes. More advanced credentials such as passports, passport cards, immigration cards, border crossing cards, etc. contain machine readable technologies such as 2D barcodes, IC chips and optical data storage. Machine readable elements are valuable for their capability to speed processing of document holders but they cannot be universally relied upon for identification purposes. In many cases, the installation of the infrastructure necessary to use the machine readable technologies on these documents has lagged the issuance of the documents themselves. Frequently, a document examiner may need to verify the document visually due to the lack of availability of a reader, network failures or simple time constraints at crowded border control sites. It is therefore essential that the document contain visual authentication features which render that document as resistant as possible to fraudulent replication or alteration and can be used to authenticate the document and holder with a high degree of certainty. To satisfy these demands for secure visual authentication and identification it is important that the document contain at least three layers of security: these three layers are commonly understood and specified as: Tier 1: visual elements verified by eye Tier 2: covert elements verifiable with small tools, such as a magnifier, easily used by the document inspector Tier 3: more sophisticated covert elements verifiable by a forensic document laboratory. The Optical Security Media Solution The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service was well aware of the requirement for tiered security when it became the first large scale adopter of optical security media with the introduction of a new Permanent Resident Card (PRC), in Mary Ann Wyrsch, then Deputy Commissioner of the INS reported that 320,000 mass produced fakes of the previous document had been seized in two operations alone in the preceding year 1. Two thousand fraudulent cards had been confiscated from passengers between October and April at Chicago Airport alone3. With the introduction of the new document featuring optical security media, James Hesse, then Head of the U.S. Forensic Document Lab commented "The new card has a unique security feature like no other in the world This virtually eliminates mass production of counterfeit cards"2. The new Permanent Resident Card met the INS requirements well. In contrast to previous documents which had been counterfeited wholesale within months of introduction, the optical media-based PRC has been in use for more than 10 years with no credible fraudulent documents encountered. As a result of their positive experience the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency (the successor to INS and now a part of the Department of Homeland Security) has again selected optical security media in an advanced, highly upgraded version as a feature of the new Permanent Resident Card which began issuance in May,

3 Integration of Optical Security Media with Other Technologies The use of optical security media on identification cards is comprehensively defined in international standards (ISO/IEC and ISO Parts 1-6). Optical security media can be combined with most commonly used machine readable technologies such as barcodes, optical character recognition, contact chips, RF-enabled contactless chips, RFID tags and magnetic stripes. This flexibility allows the card to take advantage of widely used installed bases of these less secure technologies while using the optical media for higher capacity data storage and secure identification. ISO Part 5 defines the possibilities for co-existence of optical security media with other machine readable technologies used in card applications. See for example the construction below, which shows the incorporation of a Gen II UHF chip (RFID) into an optical media-based card. Authentication Optical security media permits the secure encoding of up to 2.8Mbytes of digital data depending on the size of the optical media stripe. The high data storage capacity of optical security media allows the storage of multiple biometric features in non-compressed form rather than vendor specific templates which are frequently used on lower capacity technologies. The availability of such digital information on a card permits assured, automatic machine driven authentication when suitable readers are in use. In addition, visual authentication features can now be imaged on the optical media at a resolution of up to 24,000 dots per inch (dpi). These micro-images are six times the resolution attainable with lithographic printing, which effectively rules out the possibility of 3

4 creating fraudulent cards using printing techniques. This capability is used to provide Tiers 1, 2 and 3 features, usually on the edges of the optical media. Such features are common to all cards used in a specific application. See for example the micro images below on the 2010 next generation U.S. Permanent Resident Card ( Green Card ). Further magnification of micro images below shows the very high level of detail available: 4

5 The high resolution imaging in the optical media can also include a Covert Diffractive Image feature; a laser activated binary diffractive pattern. Such patterns are not reproducible by printing techniques. The diffractive element is a Tier 2 security feature, viewable by means of a small, hand held laser viewer. Optical security media can also include a personalized optical variable device (known as a Personalized Embedded Hologram") a diffractive image which is specific to an individual card and user. The Personalized Embedded Hologram is perhaps the most widely used feature of a secure optical card and usually contains a visual image of the card holder and identifying information. The incorporation of this feature renders the mass replication of fraudulent cards virtually impossible since the optical media on each card contains a Personalized Embedded Hologram specific to the holder of that card. This presents a quite different challenge to a potential forger as compared to that posed by conventional holograms used, for example, on bank cards, in which an identical hologram is used on every card. The illustration below shows an example of such a Personalized Embedded Hologram. Optical Security Media Technology An Insight Optical security media is based upon high resolution silver halide photographic film. During the manufacturing process photographic imaging enables the formatting of visual micro image and diffractive security features, and the pre-encoding of some digital data and track guides. These pre-encoded elements are unique to each program but common to all cards used in that program. At the time of card issuance, personal data can be written onto the optical security media, in both digital and visual form, using a small semi-conductor laser. The process is similar to that used in recording CD-R discs. The media is write once read many (WORM); once written, data or images cannot be fraudulently altered or erased. While updating of previously written data is possible, the originally written data always remains, creating a permanent audit trail of changes made. The LaserCard optical security media is unique in that both the pre-encoded and laser-recorded features have a true reflective/non reflective component as well as a phase component due to height differentials. 5

6 The resultant images have excellent contrast and diffractive effects that have proven to be difficult to reproduce with any other technology. Optical Security Media Card Personalization In addition to the information carried on the optical media, identification cards normally include visual images of and information concerning the cardholder printed on the plastic card body. The two primary methods of printing such images are dye transfer printing and laser engraving. Today, dye transfer printing dominates the legacy issued base of ID cards while, increasingly, laser engraving is becoming the method of choice for use on high security identification cards. The advantage of laser engraving is the durability of the image. The dye transfer process offers full color reproduction but the images are on the surface of the card and must be protected by an overlay patch for best durability. However, even when so protected they are frequently subject to blurring of the images caused by dye migration resulting from exposure to high humidity or plasticizers in card wallets. Dye transfer images are also somewhat vulnerable to fraudulent modification of the card since the image is at the card surface and can be removed by use of chemicals or abrasives and the card reprinted. Laser engraving by contrast produces a black and white image only, but that image is created by carbonization of the plastic and is invulnerable to effects of humidity, plasticizers or fading in sunlight. Further the laser engraved image is burned deeply into the card body and cannot be removed, thus providing a higher level of resistance to fraudulent manipulation of the card. The decision to select dye transfer printing or laser engraving is driven by a combination of economics and logistics. Dye transfer printers are relatively inexpensive at around $5000/unit and are well suited to decentralized issuing processes where similar cards must be issued at a number of locations. Laser engraving equipment is more expensive at $75,000/unit and up; therefore this technique is usually employed in a centralized issuance infrastructure. When large quantities of cards are to be issued one must also consider the consumables cost. Ribbons for dye transfer printers add approximately $0.25/card to the cost of issuance whereas a laser engraver uses no consumables. In some applications, in order to obtain the fraud resistance of laser engraving combined with the availability of a color image of the card holder, a combination of laser engraving and dye transfer printing is used. Such is the case with the Italian Carabinieri (National Police Force) Card in which the photograph of the cardholder is printed by dye transfer printing and the textual information laser engraved. 6

7 When selecting a dye transfer printer, it is important to specify a "retransfer" printer rather than the "direct to card" type. Retransfer printers deliver higher quality printing on cards with optical media or embedded contact chips. Durability Optical security media is invulnerable to electrostatic and electromagnetic fields and the polycarbonate plastic used in the card body is extremely durable, cards manufactured from this material easily exceed the requirements of ISO/IEC 7810, the International Standard for identification cards. For this reason the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency selected the optical media card as a data storage device for its Automated Manifest System, to prevent a recurrence of the serious information shortfalls that ensued during the first Gulf War. Not only did the card solve the logistics information problems but, as noted by Lucy Capaldi a traffic management analyst for the DLA, it reduced the time to process receipts by 66%-78% and also proved exceptionally durable. Ms Capaldi observed that the cards "were exposed to 170 0F, soaked in saltwater for weeks on end, subjected to spills such as strong Navy coffee and even run over with a Bradley infantry vehicle all to little effect"4,5 Ms Capaldi subsequently won an Outstanding Personnel of the Year Award for her selection of the optical media card and the system she developed with it. In 2003 after 9 years of using the card Gene Bransfield, then Program Manager of the Defense Logistics Agency commented "the optical memory card is the most durable and reliable media I have seen or used in over 30 years of DoD logistics experience." 6 The Automated Manifest System remains in use today; DLA has found nothing better in the 14 years since it was first adopted. Conclusion Optical security media continues to match the most sophisticated requirements for tiered security in major identity card programs. The success of the US Green Card program has become a model for large-scale secure identity programs around the world. Continued innovation across multiple areas such as overt, covert and forensic security features, durability, complementary technology integration, and secure printing techniques enables optical security media to maintain an unparalleled track record for security and counterfeit resistance. 7

8 Contact Us: To learn more about how Optical Security Media can add value to your secure identity solution, please contact us at: The Americas: tel: , Europe, Middle East & Africa: tel: ; References 1 Associated Press article by Michelle Mittelstadt, April 21, Record of hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Sub Committee on Immigration, July 22, Chicago Sun-Times, April 22, Automatic I.D News, February Traffic World, November Private from Gene Bransfield DLA dated April 16,