Schreiner PrinTrust showcases secure PIN mailer solutions with holographic protection layers at ICMA EXPO 2013

EMC chip cards protect consumers at automatic teller machines, PIN Safe labels by Schreiner PrinTrust safeguard PIN mailers

The international card industry will be meeting at ICMA EXPO in Washington from June 4 to 6. The worldwide conversion to EMC chips, which is the defined standard adopted by Europay, MasterCard and Visa to prevent credit card fraud and skimming of magnetic strips, will be a key topic at the event. Schreiner PrinTrust will be showcasing its PIN protection solutions at the trade fair, which guarantee that the confidential codes of the new credit cards reach consumers without having been compromised.

While European countries such as Germany, France and the United Kingdom have completely switched to credit cards with integrated chip processors, the worldwide migration to the EMC standard is by and large still in progress. The announcement that American Express, Discover, MasterCard and VISA will make the conversion in the U.S. market by 2015 marks another major step toward ensuring the security of electronic payments.

Switching to credit cards with chips and PINs poses a major challenge to banks and credit card companies. Secure mailing of personalized cards and confidential codes is one of the aspects that have to be guaranteed. For this purpose, Schreiner PrinTrust, in collaboration with Otto Künnecke GmbH, a mechanical engineering specialist for printing and mailing of security documents, develops PIN protection systems. These solutions combine the tamper-proof PIN covers with protection during the process of finalizing and personalizing PIN mailers.

Maximum security with PIN Safe labels
The PIN Safe label provides tamper-proof sealing of the confidential code between two security labels. First, a neutral, opaque base label is applied to the mailer stationery. After variable printing of the confidential number using inkjet or laser printers, the PIN Safe label is applied on top of the PIN and thus provides reliable covering of the PIN. The recipient of the PIN mailer exposes the PIN by simply scratching off a holographic protection layer. PIN Safe gives customers a free choice of design options in terms of size and coloring. The central scratch field carries a holographic image for which either standard or customized designs are available. A partial release effect is integrated into the colored film. This “void effect” becomes visible when an attempt is made to peel off the label and thus makes it possible for consumers or other non-experts to immediately detect a counterfeiting or tampering attempt.

The PIN protection solutions by Schreiner PrinTrust meet maximum security requirements. Extensive tests by independent testing institutes such as FOGRA and PIRA have confirmed that confidential codes covered with the PIN Safe protection label cannot be spied out by any optical, chemical or physical means without the tampering attempt being detected.

Finalizing PIN mailers in a protected process
To ensure that the PIN reaches the consumer without having been compromised along the way it is necessary to protect the code even before it is mailed. Therefore, an automated and protected process is used to create the mailer, protect the PIN and finalize the mailing letter. Every letter is only personalized in the finalization stage when the the unique code is applied, which is immediately followed by application of the PIN cover. This ensures maximum security during the production process and prevents access to confidential data.

Schreiner PrinTrust, Booth 22