The Holography Times Vol.

7, Issue 22

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Identity document: challenges and solutions

By C S Jeena
With todays technology, document can be easily duplicated and altered. Document tampering occurs frequently, however, inexpensive color copiers, scanners, and PCs have made duplication easy and readily available. This is happening at an alarming rate, and every business is vulnerable. In most cases, the targets are government-issued documents such as passports, drivers licenses, or national ID cards. The article highlight the issues related to document counterfeiting and the importance of hologram in document protection.

Human beings need some form of identity document. An identity document tells a story about the holder on the subject of the document. The objective is to enable other person to understand more about the subject and to identify them. Above all, an identity document needs to be trustworthy. An identity document (also called a piece of identification or ID, or colloquially as ones papers) is any document which may be used to verify aspects of a persons personal identity. If issued in the form of a small, mostly standard-sized card, it is usually called an identity card (IC). Countries which do not have formal identity documents may require informal documents. It could be an identity card or travel documents.

Identity documents:

in forms of animal skin, gems and stone to seals introduced to enable for example representatives of the King travelling for neighbouring States. Eventually, paper identity documents emerged as evidence of someones identity, and more in particular of the bearers position, with the request to grant safe passage to the bearer. Mostly, these documents served as a status symbol for the privileged rather than a form of identification. The need for reliable identity documents only became imminent when travel started to become more popular. The need for proper identity management became more obvious and compelling during World War I, when people started to realize the need to establish the identity of everybody who entered the fighting zone. In 1920, the League of Nations organized an international conference in order to work out common formats for passports and visa, including the layout, content and validity. Unfortunately, the effort was unsuccessful, due to lack of political will.
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Why have IDs

In the middle age when people tend to live in clusters within village or tribes, personal documentation was not considered important at all. Nevertheless, many centuries ago identification tokens were

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Purpose of the identity document
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The Holography Times Vol. 7, Issue 22

An identity document has a number of purposes; Proof of identity: These days, persons are asked to prove their identity when dealing with a Bank, entering a restricted area or completing an important transactions such as buying a house etc. etc. They have no need for a travel document and only need a trustworthy identity document for domestic use. For example an identity card, PAN Card, driving license, social security card, AADHAR card or medicare card. Facilitation of travel: A trustworthy identification document facilitates international travel because it provides a proven means for identification purpose and guarantees the return of the bearer to a designated place. Proof of Nationality: A travel document not only certified the nationality of the holder, but also indicates whether the holder has the right to return to the issuing country or his place of domicile, through a visa label or a stamp in the document.

conditions of stay laid down by the immigration authorities of the receiving country or region. Domestic Document: These type of document are mainly intended for various purpose within the country of origin. Such as Permanent Account Number (PAN Card), Driving License, Voter ID card etc. etc.

Challenges concerning identity documents

The Federal Trade Commission estimates that as many as 9 million Americans have their identities stolen each year. -

Due to their importance, identity documents are a continuous subject of fraudulent and criminal activities. These include forged and false documents, false identity and impersonation and human trafficking. i. Forged and false documents: Identity theft and ID counterfeiting are among the fastest growing types of crime, especially in highly industrialized countries. According to FBI statistics, it is the fastest growing crime in USA. The Federal Trade Commission estimates that as many as 9 million Americans have their identities stolen each year. Indeed, just to highlight the size of the problem, in April 2012 the European Parliament estimated that of the 6.5 million bio-metric passports in circulation in France between 500,000 and one million are false having been obtained using counterfeit documents. In most cases, the targets are government - issued documents such as passports, drivers licenses, or national ID cards. How ID are copied/ faked: According to various Organization, common examples of forged and false documents include; Counterfeit identity documents that emulate the

Common identity documents

An identity card is a generic term for various cards types such as social security cards, citizens cards, resident cards and driving licenses. These can be classified into Travel Document or Document used for Domestic purpose. Travel Documents: Travel document are documents intended for international travel, such as passports and certificates of identity, normally come in the shape of a booklet which can include a visa sticker and the
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features and characteristic of valid IDs issued by Government. For example, counterfeit driver license with an unexpired date. Valid identity documents, usually issued in the name of a fictitious or stolen identity, obtained through fraudulent means. Valid identity documents have been altered after issuance to change a name, photo image, age, or other biographic descriptor.

versus counterfeit identity documents. As an essential step, Government should issue a standard basic guidelines for document protection security such as; All document must be incorporated with overt, covert and forensic security features; A combination of security features with other level 2 and level 3 security features to form a layered approach. (See table) Specialised and secure card production materials designed to prevent counterfeiting and should be limited to access and costly to obtain. Use of technology that does more than verify a bar code. ID readers must be able to verify security features as well as bar codes digitally and nondigitally.

Terrorist group and homegrown extremists have used counterfeit IDs to rent cars and trucks, and to buy chemicals or certain fertilizers to derive high potency explosive components. Example includes 11 September 2001 in USA and 26 November 2008 in Mumbai (India).

Damaged caused by the duplicate/copies/fake IDs:

The fake ID can impact National security, public safety and the Economy. While counterfeited ID use for financial gain harmed common consumer, the counterfeited Government IDs can be a serious threat to national security and economy. Terrorist group and homegrown extremists have used counterfeit IDs to rent cars and trucks, and to buy chemicals or certain fertilizers to derive high potency explosive components. Example includes 11 September 2001 in USA and 26 November 2008 in Mumbai (India).

What can be done?

i. Common guidelines for stronger card security: With the lack of consistent standards across identification document, it is often difficult to give reasonable assurance of a given document authenticity. Improving the security of identity documents is a matter of urgent national security. Most Identity Document are not designed as secure documents, and therefore are no uniform security standards in place to assist the public and law enforcement in the recognition of genuine

ii. Training for enforcement officials: Officials involved in security of various premises including Army Personnel and Local Police should become trained in basic methods of identity document authentication, and have tools available to assist in differentiating fake IDs from valid IDs. For example reference guides to State Licenses are essential tools for authentication, as counterfeit driver licenses are most often used in States other than the State from which the document is counterfeited.

Hologram security:

There are many security features that can be applied to documents, both overt and covert and hologram are among one of the most effective authentication measures in the battle against document counterfeiting.

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The Holography Times Vol. 7, Issue 22

Level 1

Feature Overt (visible with naked eyes)

Purpose for usage - a visible public recognition feature - Little or no training and no device required. - Examples such as hologram, optical variable ink, paper watermark etc. - Hidden features. - Requires some training and simple devide to validate. - Examples such as UV-uorescence, micro-text etc. - Deeply hidden features. - Requires specialist knowledge and equipment to validate. - Examples such as various proprietary taggants, etc.

Covert (non-visible with eyes)

Forensic

Table: The use of security features levels

The role of a hologram on a passport and other identity documents is principally to shield against the forgery of the photograph and personal data, otherwise known as the variable information. However, the ability of the hologram to provide effective protection lies in the continuous innovation, invention and evolution of holographic techniques. Both optical effects and material science techniques have created authentication devices that are easily recognised yet difficult to copy accurately. They can be safely integrated within the production process and stand up to the rigorous demands of being in use for a period of anything up to ten years. According to Mr. Luv D Shriram,General Secretary & Treasurer (HoMAI), Security hologram was used in document protection because it provides the best visual authentication. Electronic authentication is not possible everywhere especially in remote areas so it generate a requirement of an instant visual authentication like a security hologram with advanced levels of security features for authentication (One such exampleis Visa / Master Card which is continuously
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using security hologram as overt feature since1983). Conclusion With the lack of consistent standards across identification document, it is often difficult to give reasonable assurance of a given document authenticity. Improving the security of identity documents is a matter of urgent national security. Most Identity Document are not designed as secure documents, and therefore are no uniform security standards in place to assist the public and law enforcement in the recognition of genuine versus counterfeit identity documents. Governments and Organizations should understand that counterfeiters will attempt to counterfeit the document if it is least secure document. Therefore, we request that maximum security features recommended by Various Organization should be implemented for the benefits of public. These security features must be practical for document issuers to implement, easy for the public to recognize and provide specific identity features for law enforcement and forensic investigators.

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