security printing
Forgery-resistant document manufacturing
Security printing is the production of documents designed to resist counterfeiting or forgery—currency, passports, checks, certificates, and identification cards.
The field employs specialized techniques: watermarks, holograms, microprinting, color-shifting inks, and paper with embedded fibers or threads.
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing handles security printing for U.S. currency.
- watermarksEmbedded paper identification marks
- passportsGovernment-issued travel identification
- driver's licenseOfficial driving permit
- banknotesPaper currency notes
- serial numbersUnique identifying sequences
holograms · guilloche · laser engraving · microprinting · certificates · legal documents · RFID chips · ID cards · birth certificate · tamper-evident seals · stamps · laminates · raised lettering · tickets · checks · anti-counterfeiting · barcodes · currency
- printingletterpress, lithographers, press, typographers, print
- counterfeitingcounterfeit currency, counterfeit bills, counterfeit cash, fake money, fake bills
- security featureswatermark, holograms, hologram, UV ink, intaglio
- philatelystamps, postage stamps, stamp collecting, mint stamps, album
- lithographylithograph, lithography, gum arabic, chromolithography, photolithography
security printingphotocopying
Reproducing documents mechanically
digital copying · duplicating · offset printing · xerography · screen printing