Do you issue your staff a plastic photo ID card?
Is that ID card secure?
Is there any risk of card duplication from your company ID cards?
If the answer to any of these is yes, you need to think about what you can do to change this. It is essential to ensure complete security when printing a photo ID card to not only protect your company, but to also protect your staff from any unauthorised visitors.
Modern staff Photo ID card printers now come complete with a number of advanced security features to help prevent any card cloning attempts. If the option of purchasing a security-enhanced printer is not available, there are several add-ons you can get to increase your printer security and make sure there will be no data breaches or risk of duplication.
Below are the six main ways to increase your ID card security and decrease the risk of any card cloning attempts.
UV Ultraviolet
UV Ultraviolet ink is a clever way of increasing security without anyone realising. The fluorescent image is not visible unless a UV light is shone over the card, making counterfeiting easy to spot. This can be easily done if your printer model can allow a full-colour ribbon with a UV panel in it.
Micro Text
Micro text is a microscopic text, printed onto cards to add discrete security. It can only be seen under a specific magnifying glass and stops counterfeiting as it is unique on each card. Micro text is extremely difficult to duplicate as standard printers aren’t able to print text this small.
Security Stamp/Watermark
Adding a security stamp or watermark onto your card creates an additional barrier of visual security. Holographic foil is laminated on top of the ID card and depending on where the light hits, you can see the print on the watermark so legitimate cards can be easily detected.
It can be customised too to print a specific logo or emblem. This not only makes the card more secure by adding an extra layer of protection, but it also keeps the card fade-resistant and scratchproof for longer, meaning identification is much clearer,so anyone checking for visual security can be assured.
Hologram stickers and overlays
Hologram stickers and overlays are the perfect, cost-effective way to increase security. They are applied to cards after it is printed. There is a large range of designs to choose from, including the option of customising with a unique piece of text, image or logo.
Holokote/Custom HoloKote/HoloPatch
HoloKote is very similar to a hologram, but the frosted watermark image is printed during the process rather than just on the top at the end. This makes it harder to clone. All Magicard photo ID card printers have a built-in HoloKote feature.
Standard Holokote has a number of designs to choose from, whereas custom Holokote helps increase security even more as you can create a personalised watermark, i.e. a company logo.
HoloPatch works in conjunction with Holokote. It is a reflective gold foil square that enhances the visibility of the HoloKote logo to create an even greater secure card.
Lamination
Lamination ensures your cards stay intact for much longer, especially as it makes them fade-resistant, not only guaranteeingthe image and text stay clear, but identification can be assured for much longer as the picture remains sharp and photo-like.
There are encoding add-ons of lamination to add to existing printers if a new, security-enhanced printer is not an option for your business.
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