An identity document is any document that may be used to prove a person's identity. If issued in a small, standard credit card size form, it is usually called an identity card, or passport card. Some countries issue formal identity documents, as national identification cards that may be compulsory or non-compulsory, while others may require identity verification using regional identification or informal documents. When the identity document incorporates a person's photograph, it may be called photo ID.
Iridescence is the phenomenon of certain surfaces that appear to gradually change colour as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes. Iridescence is caused by wave interference of light in microstructures or thin films. Examples of iridescence include soap bubbles, feathers, butterfly wings and seashell nacre, and minerals such as opal. Pearlescence is a related effect where some or most of the reflected light is white. The term pearlescent is used to describe certain paint finishes, usually in the automotive industry, which actually produce iridescent effects.
Security printing is the field of the printing industry that deals with the printing of items such as banknotes, cheques, passports, tamper-evident labels, security tapes, product authentication, stock certificates, postage stamps and identity cards. The main goal of security printing is to prevent forgery, tampering, or counterfeiting. More recently many of the techniques used to protect these high-value documents have become more available to commercial printers, whether they are using the more traditional offset and flexographic presses or the newer digital platforms. Businesses are protecting their lesser-value documents such as transcripts, coupons and prescription pads by incorporating some of the features listed below to ensure that they cannot be forged or that alteration of the data cannot occur undetected.
A kinebar is a gold bar that has a diffractive optically variable image device embossed into the surface of the gold. The device used is a "Kinegram" made by OVD Kinegram AG (Switzerland). The Kinegram technology is exclusively provided to governments, and is intended both as a high-security feature and for visual appeal.
Optically variable ink (OVI) also called color shifting ink is an anti-counterfeiting measure used on many major modern banknotes, as well as on other official documents.
Greek passports are issued to Greek citizens for the purpose of international travel. Biometric passports have been issued since 26 August 2006, with old-style passports being declared invalid as of 1 January 2007. Since June 2009, the passport's RFID chip includes two index fingerprints as well as a high-resolution JPEG image of the passport holder. Every Greek citizen is also a citizen of the European Union. The passport, along with the national identity card allows for free rights of movement and residence in any of the states of the European Union, European Economic Area, and Switzerland.
A Norwegian passport is the passport issued to nationals of Norway for the purpose of international travel. Beside serving as proof of Norwegian citizenship, they facilitate the process of securing assistance from Norwegian consular officials abroad.
A Danish passport is an identity document issued to citizens of the Kingdom of Denmark to facilitate international travel. Besides serving as proof of Danish citizenship, they facilitate the process of securing assistance from Danish consular officials abroad.
The European Union itself does not issue ordinary passports, but ordinary passport booklets issued by its 27 member states share a common format. This common format features a coloured cover emblazoned—in the official language(s) of the issuing country —with the title "European Union", followed by the name(s) of the member state, the heraldic "Arms" of the State concerned, the word "PASSPORT", together with the biometric passport symbol at the bottom centre of the front cover.
The Estonian identity card is a mandatory identity document for citizens of Estonia. In addition to regular identification of a person, an ID-card can also be used for establishing one's identity in electronic environment and for giving one's digital signature. Within Europe as well as French overseas territories and Georgia, the Estonian ID Card can be used by the citizens of Estonia as a travel document.
A physical unclonable function, or PUF, is a physical object that for a given input and conditions (challenge), provides a physically defined "digital fingerprint" output (response) that serves as a unique identifier, most often for a semiconductor device such as a microprocessor. PUFs are often based on unique physical variations occurring naturally during semiconductor manufacturing. A PUF is a physical entity embodied in a physical structure. PUFs are implemented in integrated circuits, including FPGAs, and can be used in applications with high-security requirements, more specifically cryptography, Internet of Things (IOT) devices and privacy protection.
The Public Register of Authentic Travel and Identity Documents Online (PRADO) is an online repository of security features in travel documents maintained by the Council of the European Union. It contains information on some of the most important security features of identity and travel documents of countries within the European Union, all Schengen Area countries, of other neighbouring countries, and third countries worldwide.
Security holograms are labels with a hologram printed onto it for sale security reasons.
The Italian electronic identity card, or simply carta d'identità, is an identification document issued to any Italian citizen and to legal aliens, that has been progressively replacing the paper-based identity card since version 3.0 was first released on 4 July 2016. The CIE is intended for both digital and physical identification. The biometric information is printed on an ID-1 card and stored in a contactless chip.
The German Identity Card is issued to German citizens by local registration offices in Germany and diplomatic missions abroad, while they are produced at the Bundesdruckerei in Berlin.
The Citizen Card or CC is an identity card issued by the Portuguese government to its citizens. The card replaces several previous documents, including the Bilhete de Identidade, Social Security card, National Health Service card, Taxpayer card and voter registration card, in one secure card. The Citizen Card was first issued in the Azores in mid-2006.
National identity cards are issued to their citizens by the governments of most European Economic Area (EEA) member states, the exceptions are Denmark and Ireland. Ireland however issues a passport card which is a valid document in the EEA and Switzerland. Denmark issues simpler identity cards that are not valid as travel documents. From 2 August 2021, new identity cards are harmonized as a common identity card model replaced the various formats already in use.
The security features governing the security of an identity can be divided into three levels of security, i.e. Level 1 Security (L1S) (Overt), Level 2 Security (L2S) (Covert) and Level 3 Security (L3S) (Forensic). The three levels of security, in combination, provide comprehensive security coverage for identities and related documents to ensure their validity and authenticity. These are typically used to protect identity information on crucial documents such as identity cards, driving licenses and passports to ensure originality and accuracy of the identities they represent. The diagram below illustrates the different levels of security and how they ensure complete security coverage of an identity.
A diffractive optically variable image device (DOVID) is a type of optical variable device; a security feature based on visual effects created by diffraction. DOVIDs are incorporated in government-issued documents of value to increase their counterfeit resistance. Brand protection is another application of DOVIDs. DOVIDs contain micro- or nanostructures in the form of diffractive gratings. Due to these structures, they exhibit optically variable effects such as dynamic chromatic, holographic, and kinematic effects, two- or three-dimensional images or color-changing effects, which ideally are easily recognized, but are difficult to reproduce. Well known examples of DOVIDs are holograms such as 2D or 3D or 2D/3D holograms based on mask illumination, dot matrix or e-beam origination technology and Kinegrams.
