Ghost Watermark
An artificial watermark printed on the back of a sheet that will not appear on a scanned or copied document.
High Residue Labels
Labels that when removed, leave a gummy surface behind to indicate that a seal has been removed.
High Resolution Image
Fine line work too thin to reproduce by copier or scanner. When copied, detailed lines blend together and spaces fill in.
Hologram
An image that displays a multi-dimensional image when a beam of light hits it at the right angle. When turned at different angles, it will change colors or a different image appears.
Image Replacement
The use of a digital image to replace an actual document, as in the recently established use of digital images for check clearing purposes.
Intaglio
Characters are formed as depressed areas on the printing plates. These are filled with ink, which is transferred to paper under pressure.
Invisible Barcode
The placement of information typically in a visible bar code into an invisible nano polymer.
Invisible Fluorescent Fiber
Invisible embedded fibers are ultraviolet, light sensitive fibers in the paper stock and can be seen only under black light (ultraviolet light).
Invisible Ink
Designs printed in invisible UV ink are only visible under a UV lamp and are used to authenticate a document. Under UV light the ink can fluoresce in a choice of colors depending on the ink chosen.
Laid Lines
The closely spaced watermark lines in paper caused by wires during production.
Laser Treatment
A procedure done to paper that makes it difficult to remove toner when the paper is used for laser printed documents.
Laser-cut
A series of laser produced micro cuts forming a secure pattern.
Magnetic Ink
An ink containing ferromagnetic components, which have a specific reaction to the external magnetic field. Texts or symbols applied by the ink can be identified by special magnetic sensors or visualized by magneto-optic converters.
Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR)
A line or lines printed with magnetic ink that contain authenticating information. MICR is used for substitute check Image Replacement Documents (IRD).
MICR Print Band
A removable MICR strip.
Microprint Signature Line
Endorsement signature lines on the check backer are lines that are formed by printed words so small that they appear as a solid line or pattern to the naked eye. Under magnification the words appear.
Micro Printing
Printing at a very fine line screen and resolution that provides text that is nearly visible and fills in when photocopied or scanned.
Modulus Check Digit Numbering
Any one of several specific systems of non-consecutive, complex, check digit numbering.
Mould Watermark
A watermark produced by a cylinder mould paper making process. These watermarks are full of detail, extraordinarily clear, and demonstrate the full range of shading from light to dark in a three dimensional impression.
OCR Line
A line of machine readable copy printed in a special OCR (Optical Character Recognition) font.
Pantograph®
A safety paper technology patented by Document Security Systems that causes words such as “unauthorized copy” or “VOID” to appear when the document is scanned or photocopied.
Paper Toner Fusion
Treating paper to bond with inks or laser toners in an effort to prevent alteration.
Passive Security Feature
A security feature that requires an action such as scanning or photocopying to become visible.
Penetrating Ink
Ink that contains a penetrating red dye that goes into the fibers of the paper and will show through to the back of the document. Penetrating inks are commonly used on the Arabic and MICR numbering of negotiable documents to deter forgers from trying to scrape the number off the document. If the number is scraped off, the red stain remains on the document.
Stay tuned next week for part three of our printing security features glossary.