Security is more than a buzzword in today's business environment. It's paramount to ensuring your employees, visitors, contractors, and others feel safe when they're on site. Beyond using your ID cards to ensure unauthorized individuals can't access your facilities, boost your entire company's security by taking proactive measures to reduce the likelihood of a security breach and to ensure everyone's safety.
Here are five ways you can enhance your ID cards' security and create an ID program that protects everyone on board.
1. Build a strong, impenetrable security program
Foremost, you need security policies in place and that requires clear strategies in place to ensuring cardholders' identities and preventing nefarious individuals from unauthorized access to your building or highly secure areas. Part of creating enhanced security is answering a few questions:
- Do all cardholders need to visibly display badges?
- Who must wear badges: volunteers, guests, contractors, etc.?
- How secure against duplication or counterfeiting should your badges be?
- Exactly where and when must cardholders display their badges for security personnel identification?
These are preliminary questions at best. Look for a security program based on best practices to get an idea of how to build your best solution.
2. Secure your physical ID card system
Securing your ID card printer, your software program, and access to your records is paramount to protecting your program from being accessed and used by unauthorized individuals. It's easy for some to hack into your system, print out "legitimate" ID cards, and access your facilities or proprietary information.
You have options, however, for securing your physical system, including your ID card printer and software. For example, some printers have optional hardware locks on them that prevent unauthorized use. And software programs have settings in place to protect your database, card design, and authorization. You can use password protection, user authentication, and customized user group access levels. Each security feature you build into your physical system allows only specified company personnel to access your ID card printer, your software program, and your cardholders' information.
3. Add a watermark
A simple, yet highly effective way to prevent tampering with ID cards is through an inexpensive watermark. If you don't have a printer that can apply watermarks, they're easy enough to apply by hand. And they make counterfeiting almost impossible.
You can special order customized watermarks or use one of the many available pre-printed. The point is to use a watermark that someone can't easily duplicate. Your ID cards must be immediately recognizable as authentic or counterfeit.
4. Consider holograms and overlays
Another way to personalize your ID cards and prevent others from producing counterfeit cards is to add a hologram or a customized overlay. A hologram is a self-adhesive patch you apply to your ID cards' surface after they're printed. You can order customized holograms with your company logo or use one of the pre-printed ones. Some overlays come with holograms pre-printed, and overlays also help protect your ID cards from normal wear and tear.
For example, Magicard printers have options for printing a standard or customized HoloKote, which is like a hologram but printed directly on the card during the printing process. This makes it almost impossible to duplicate. Most Magicard printers have built-in standard HoloKote designs from which to choose.
5. Add lamination
When you add a laminating module to your ID card printer, you make it virtually impossible for someone to tamper with your ID cards. Not only does lamination extend the lifespan of your ID cards, it makes it very difficult to tamper with. You can even choose holographic laminates to boost your cards' security.
If you don't need lamination right now, some printer models let you add on a lamination module in the future. It's one of the easiest ways to secure your ID cards from unauthorized changes or tampering.
Final thoughts
Many of the above suggestions involve physical ways to protect your cards, either through holograms and watermarks that are immediately identifiable or by securing your printer and software from hackers and others trying to duplicate your cards. A lot of the stickers and overlays you add to your ID cards prevent someone from changing the information on the card because they're demolished during the tampering process.
Most of these ideas are feasible, but not all are necessary. You're best off by contacting an Idesco ID Expert to talk about your options, discuss your security needs, and create a budget-conscious plan that meets your needs.
Call an ID Expert today at 212-889-2530 and let's get started