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3 Emerging Counterfeiting Technology Threats
Pages 40-58

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From page 40...
... The digital technology revolution has had a concomitant effect on the capabilities accessible to the counterfeiter. As discussed in Chapter 1, this increase in capabilities and access to them provide a major motivation for this study.
From page 41...
... Security Features with Significant Deterring Value in the Production Rate of Digital Age Counterfeiting Ink-Jet All-in-One Color Flatbed Ink- Digital High-Quality Imaging Features Printer Device Copier Jet Printer Press Scanner Software Human perceptible Substrate NA NA ● ● ● ● ● Tactility (or feel) NA NA ● ● ● ● Watermark ● ● ● ● ● ● Security strip ● ● ● ● ● ● Intaglio printing NA NA ● ● ● ● Offset color blending Optically variable ink ● ● ● ● ● ● Intaglio microprinting ● ● Offset microprinting ● ● Colored threads Machine readable Paper fluorescence NA NA ● ● ● ● ● Magnetic ink pattern NA NA ● ● ● ● Infrared ink pattern NA NA ● ● ● ● NOTE: "●" indicates some deterrence value; "blank," low or no deterrence value; "NA," not applicable.
From page 42...
... Virtually all of today's high-quality printing processes are also binary.1 However, each pixel of an image from an input scanner is usually recorded with at least 8 bits, or 256 levels of intensity. When the image is prepared for printing, however, the bit depth is reduced again to 1 bit because most electronic printers are binary devices.
From page 43...
... e m e rg i n g c o U n t e r f e i t i n g t e c h n o lo g y t h r e at s  TABLE 3-2 Summary of the Committee's Analysis of the Capabilities of Digital-Image Capture Systems Resolution Capture Device (pixels per inch) Cost Comments Digital camera Varies Low to high Limited number of total pixels available Simple consumer-grade 2,500 Low Ideal for counterfeiting owing to high reflective flatbed scanner quality and low cost High-quality reflective flatbed 2,500-4,000 Moderate High quality with only moderate cost scanner Professional drum scanner 4,000-5,000 High High cost presents barrier to entry Artwork software No limit Free to Time-consuming and limited to use by moderate experienced artists performance-for-cost will significantly increase in the next few years.
From page 44...
... To prepare an image for most digital printing, the scanned image needs to be converted to a binary format. The scanned image can be halftoned,2 as in conven 2 Halftoning is the transformation of a grayscale or color image to a pattern of small dots with a limited number of colors -- that is, just black dots for grayscale images or a combination of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black dots for color images -- in order to make the image printable.
From page 45...
... darkness depends on the amount of black dots on the white background. In color halftoning, the cyan separation, the magenta separation, the yellow separation, and the black separation combine in a set of patterns printed over each other, which the human viewer from a distance observes as a color image.
From page 46...
... IMAGE PRINTING Image printing is the final step in digital reproduction except for finishing operations, which would include cutting, trimming, and the addition of simulated security elements. It is also the limiting step in the counterfeiting process.
From page 47...
... By varying the chemistry of the polymer in the toner, printed images can be made to look more like ink on paper rather than having the look of electronic printing. The quality of the fusing techniques can have serious implications for durability.
From page 48...
... Ink-jet printers fall into three categories: continuous, thermal, and piezoelectric ink jet. Their features and applicability to counterfeiting are described next.
From page 49...
... Another key advantage of continuous ink-jet printers has been their ability to produce small drops of ink that can be repeatedly printed at the same or carefully adjacent spot to vary the effective droplet size. This capability produces stunning quality.
From page 50...
... The piezoelectric ink-jet technology is currently available on commercial flatbed digital presses, and while they are currently very expensive, they are easily and quickly configured for counterfeiting. This is a major departure from the setup time required for commercial printing presses; it could allow counterfeiters who might work in printing shops to use the digital equipment without alerting their management.
From page 51...
... It is not expected that thermal transfer will be able to compete with bubble-jet, piezo-jet, or electrophotographic images as time goes on. The second form of thermal printing, thermal dye printing, has also been re ferred to as dye sublimation printing.
From page 52...
... The various electronic and other printing processes described above have varied advantages in image quality. The quality of digital presses and advanced electrophotographic printing has risen to the point that it is expected to replace offset printing in the near future.
From page 53...
... Many electrophotographic printers can easily handle light- to heavyweight papers, well within the range of currency substrates. Some newer printers can print on both sides automati cally, but back-to-front registration of printed features would in general not be nearly as good as that achieved in offset printing.
From page 54...
... Functional materials for the semiconductor elements of thin-film transistors or the electroluminescent layers of emissive displays have also been printed. New ink-jet printing processes can also print "inks" made of a variety of metals, glasses, and plastics, which implies that simple printing pro cesses may be able to simulate non-image features, such as the metallic print on the security strip.
From page 55...
... • Laser-induced thermal transfer printing uses a focused laser beam to selec tively transfer layers of solid-material "inks" from a "donor" sheet to a target substrate. The basic printing mechanism is similar to that of a conventional thermal transfer printer.
From page 56...
... Table 3-4 summarizes the committee's analysis of the digital technology access of the four classes of counterfeiter that use digital technology. TABLE 3-4 Summary of the Committee's Analysis of Digital Technology Access, by Class of Counterfeiter Ink-Jet All-in-One Color Flatbed Ink- Digital High-Quality Imaging Class Printer Device Copier Jet Printer Press Scanner Software Opportunist ● ● ● ● Petty criminal ● ● ● ● ● Professional criminal ● ● ● ● ● ● ● State-sponsored Not applicable -- reproduces government processes directly.
From page 57...
... The same equipment will enable expanded operations by petty criminals, and it may make counterfeiting more lucrative for professional criminals as well. The trend means that the protection against counterfeiting af forded by a two-dimensional printed image casually viewed in reflected light is highly diminished.
From page 58...
... Automated capabilities such as line-width control, uniform image appearance, and color balance would enable an ordinary user to easily obtain an optical image that is very faithful to the original. • Emerging technologies are targeted at improvements in desktop capabilities; these improvements will continue to limit the ability of any two-dimensional printed image to deter widespread counterfeiting successfully.


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