Topic of your interest
On behalf of security
Fogra tests print products that are supposed to be safe from counterfeiting. This also includes documents that we all carry with us every day: ID cards, driving licenses, health cards, bank cards and bank notes. As the following story shows, the tests provide practical proof in the truest sense of the word whether a product is forgery-proof.
It is quite common for manufacturers of identification documents to first send a new product to Fogra in order to have it checked there to see whether the measures of the built-in anti-counterfeiting security are sufficient. Only when the document has passed the test by Fogra does it go into actual production.
Such a test order is one of the most memorable ones. When Arne Müller, Head of the Security Applications Department, once received an identification document for assessment, he did not have to dig too deep into his bag of tricks to split the document and remove the passport photo inside. He seamlessly inserts a photo of himself, closes the document without leaving any residue and sends it back without comment.
Shortly afterwards, the manufacturer informs us what this return without processing would have meant, perhaps the time would not have been right for the inspection? Mr. Müller asks the caller to take a closer look at the portrait photo of the identification document. Thereupon it becomes very quiet at the other end of the telephone line ...
Sometimes it is necessary to forge on behalf of an order in order to assess security and find solutions for counterfeit protection. Of course, it is not only a matter of detecting possible weak points, but also of eliminating them. For example, it took six months before the first relevant anti-counterfeiting test could be carried out on this product. A total of 1.5 years of development time passed before the tests were passed.
