News | ID & Secure Document News™

Francis Tuffy

17 March 2025

2 min read

Colour-Changing Smart Materials for Rapid Authentication

At the recent High Security Printing™ EMEA conference in Basel, Switzerland, Dr Alexander Brannan from the University of Manchester, and Gary Spinks of Security Fibres UK, presented advances in colour-changing smart materials designed for rapid authentication. This technology addresses key issues in anticounterfeiting by integrating academic research with industrial application.

Technical Features

Francis Tuffy

4 March 2025

3 min read

Quality and Colour: The Unsung Guardians of Secure Documents

If you only read media reports, it would be easy to assume that the most significant advances in identity document security stem from digital innovation, with biometric verification, blockchain-based identity management, and digital certificates dominating discussions.

ID Cards Technical Features

Francis Tuffy

4 March 2025

1 min read

Currency Data Now Available on Tap

Data both allows and creates questions. Answering questions generates information. Information allows decisions and actions. Without accurate, relevant, reliable, consistent, standardised and timely data, creating and delivering anything is hard, particularly change.

Technical Features

Francis Tuffy

24 Feb. 2025

1 min read

Payment Cards with Thermo-Reactive Liquid Crystal Ink

IDEMIA Secure Transactions (IST) has pioneered the use of patented thermo-reactive Liquid Crystal Ink in payment cards, adapting a technology previously used in the fashion industry. This advanced material science innovation enables the ink to transition from black to a dynamic multicolour display when exposed to temperature changes.

Technical Features

Tobias Nuessle

24 Dec. 2024

4 min read

How the ID Industry Can Become More Sustainable and Help to Raise Awareness for Greener Travel

The travel and tourism industry is a significant contributor to global CO2 emissions. Various studies and reports in recent years have estimated that the industry is responsible for approximately 8-11% of global emissions.

Technical Features

Francis Tuffy

24 Dec. 2024

3 min read

IDQR: Codes That Link Cards to Data

At the recent High Security Printing™ Asia conference in Bangkok, Thailand, Serge Wsevolojskoy, Product Manager for Security Features at IDEMIA Smart Identity, presented a comprehensive technical overview of the company’s new Identity Document Quick Response (IDQR) security system.

ID Cards Technical Features

Francis Tuffy

24 Dec. 2024

4 min read

Quantum Cracks Military-Grade ID Encryption – or Did It?

Recent claims that Chinese researchers have cracked military-grade encryption using quantum computing have sparked concern and headlines. However, a further look at the claims reveals that the picture is not quite that straightforward.

Technical Features

Zbigniew Sagan and Vincent Leyris

1 Sept. 2024

5 min read

Maintaining Standards to Protect QR Codes

Barcodes, particularly in the form of 2D barcodes such as QR codes, play an increasingly critical role in the security and functionality of passports and ID cards.

Technical Features

$A Case for Diffractive Combination Technologies$

Andreas Schilling

21 July 2024

2 min read

A Case for Diffractive Combination Technologies

Since physical documents such as national passports remain the root of trust for establishing identities, the necessity to stay well ahead of counterfeiters is paramount.

Technical Features

Francis Tuffy

1 May 2024

2 min read

The Universal Usability of DOVIDs

Diffractive optically variable image devices (DOVIDs) are highly effective and robust security features for identity documents. Their inherent sophistication and security are known to offer a multitude of benefits in combating counterfeiting and ensuring the authenticity of ID documents.

Technical Features

Francis Tuffy

1 March 2024

3 min read

What Can Airport Iris Recognition Systems Learn from Apple?

Optic ID, an iris authentication system developed by Apple, is a key feature integrated into Apple’s new Vision Pro headset. This technology enables users to securely unlock their device, authorise transactions, access personal data, and sign-in to various applications using iris recognition.

Biometrics Free Technical Features Free

Francis Tuffy

26 Jan. 2024

2 min read

UK Police Granted Powers to Run Facial Recognition Searches

In a quiet amendment to a new criminal justice bill, the UK government has granted police the authority to conduct facial recognition searches on a vast database containing images of all 50 million driving licence holders in the country.

Technical Features

Francis Tuffy

26 Jan. 2024

2 min read

Just When You Thought You Knew Everything About Fingerprints

Recent studies from Columbia University suggest a shift in some of the strongest held assumptions about fingerprint analysis by challenging the conventional notion of the absolute uniqueness of fingerprints.

Free Technical Features Free

Francis Tuffy

22 Dec. 2023

2 min read

New Product Launch from Regula

Regula Forensics has unveiled the spectrometer-microscope Regula 5006, a two-in-one device tailored for advanced forensic scrutiny of identity and other secure documents.

Technical Features

From the DigiProPass collaboration

22 Dec. 2023

5 min read

Digital Product Passports – the Potential for Unintended Consequences

In March 2023, ID & Secure Document News™ (IDN) carried an article on the opportunities for new projects stemming from research collaborations, using the UK SPRITE+ network as an example.

Free Technical Features Free

Francis Tuffy

1 Dec. 2023

2 min read

Fingerprint Technology – Bigger is Better

In his article ‘Emerging Fingerprint Technologies for Smartphones’ (see IDN January 2023), technology consultant Dr Alan Hodgson predicted that in response to the need for better fingerprint recognition on devices, technology suppliers would be looking to increase the size of their biometric sensors. And he was right!

Technical Features

Alan Hodgson

2 Oct. 2023

5 min read

Digital Product Passports – Unintended Consequences for Digital ID?

In March 2023 IDN carried an article on the opportunities for new projects that stem from research collaborations, using the UK SPRITE+ network as an example.

Technical Features

Steve Casey

2 Oct. 2023

5 min read

Australia’s R-Series Passport Moves into New Security and Design Paradigm

Since winning the contract to manufacture the entire Australian passport in 2002, the R-Series is now the fifth series that Note Printing Australia (NPA) has developed for the Australian Passports Office..

Passports Technical Features

Francis Tuffy

2 July 2023

2 min read

Vision-Box Installs eGates at Ezeiza Airport

Multinational technology company, Vision-Box, has deployed its Seamless Journey Platform in the new terminal at Ezeiza, Argentina’s largest international airport by passenger numbers.

Biometrics Technical Features Travel

Francis Tuffy

2 July 2023

3 min read

Apple on the Biometric ID Trail Again

While the tech giant, Apple, is essentially a consumer electronics firm that produces stylish smartphones, laptops, desktops and TVs, it is also a big user of biometrics to verify the identity of the user. Even more than that, it has never shied away from following other research areas that involve identity as a service.

Biometrics Free Technical Features Free

Latest News

Colour-Changing Smart Materials for Rapid Authentication

Quality and Colour: The Unsung Guardians of Secure Documents

Currency Data Now Available on Tap

Payment Cards with Thermo-Reactive Liquid Crystal Ink

How the ID Industry Can Become More Sustainable and Help to Raise Awareness for Greener Travel

IDQR: Codes That Link Cards to Data

Quantum Cracks Military-Grade ID Encryption – or Did It?

Maintaining Standards to Protect QR Codes

A Case for Diffractive Combination Technologies

The Universal Usability of DOVIDs

What Can Airport Iris Recognition Systems Learn from Apple?

UK Police Granted Powers to Run Facial Recognition Searches

Just When You Thought You Knew Everything About Fingerprints

New Product Launch from Regula

Digital Product Passports – the Potential for Unintended Consequences

Fingerprint Technology – Bigger is Better

Digital Product Passports – Unintended Consequences for Digital ID?

Australia’s R-Series Passport Moves into New Security and Design Paradigm

Vision-Box Installs eGates at Ezeiza Airport

Apple on the Biometric ID Trail Again

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