On the use of mobile Imaging devices for the validation of first- and second-line security features

The proliferation of mobile imaging devices combined with Moore's law has yielded a class of devices that are capable of imaging and/or validating many First- and Second-Line security features. Availability of these devices at little or no cost due to economic models and commoditization of constituent technologies will result in a broad infrastructure of devices capable of identifying fraud and counterfeiting. The presence of these devices has the potential to influence aspects of design, production, and usage models for value documents as both a validation tool and as a mechanism for attack. To maximize usability as a validation tool, a better understanding is needed about the imaging capabilities of these devices and which security features and design approaches favor them. As a first step in this direction, the authors investigated using a specific imaging-equipped cell phone as an inspection and validation tool for identity documents. The goal of the investigation was to assess the viability of the device to identify photo swapping, image alteration, data alteration, and counterfeiting of identity documents. To do so security printing techniques such as digital watermarking, microprinting and a Diffractive Optically Variable Image Device were used. Based on analysis of a representative imaging-equipped cell phone (Fujitsu 900i), the authors confirmed that within some geographies, deployed devices are capable of imaging value documents at sufficiently high resolution to enable inspection and validation usage models across a limited set of security features.