Micro Dots on Printed Documents

I like his attitude, but I think he's wrong.

When done on a modern printer, the original check will likely include micro-dots that can not be copied and reproduced, at least not by a mediocre crook. It would take someone with lots of knowledge and the right equipment to produce a passable fake. A modern printer can produce shades of color that an old dot matrix can't do.

Conversely, a modern printer could easily reproduce the look of a dot matrix printer.

As a side note, the forged documents about GWBush's National Guard service that ruined Dan Rather's career were done poorly using a modern printer - but the forgers stupidly used a modern word processing program which failed to match the unique typeface of an old IBM 'ball' Selectric typewriter. People familiar with fonts and printing quickly spotted the errors, and just that quickly Rather was exposed as a partisan fool so anxious to destroy Bush that he neglected to fact-check.

He only uses it to print checks.

While any modern printer can imitate the font,they cannot imitate the "dent" made in the paper by the old impact pin printers,and the edges where the tractor feed holes were removed.

The old pin printers were never designed for high resolution images or the like.

Mainly just text.

The original can also be overlaid on the carbon copy for comparison.(Yes,he still uses carbon copies).

Old ways die hard I guess.

But so can anyone else buy a dot matrix printer and reproduce his checks.

His dot matrix printer is incapable of producing the security microdots of a modern printer.

He's only secure if the amount he's printing is too small to bother with. If he were printing tens of thousands in checks, he might attract a forger with the minimal skills needed to duplicate his checks.

I think we still have a KXP 1124 kicking around. The last time it was used in my knowledge was about 20 years ago. Not everyone throws away their old tech (god help us). It's somewhere in the pile.

Yea, I think my old KXP 2624 is out in the shed somewhere. We had KXP 1624s at work for years and ran across one the other day. Only one I don't know what happened to is my first KXP 1024. We abused that printer for 5 years and it held up. It was the reason we went to KXP 1624s later. - JHF

I would think it would be the other way around...If his printer has a unique code, it would seem to me that that would be uncopyable...

https://www.snopes.com/household-printers-tracking-code/

Here's a list of printers that do or don't produce microdots, from the Electronic Freedom Foundation:

https://www.eff.org/pages/list-printers-which-do-or-do-not-display-tracking-dots

I agree that for check printing, the microdots should be a security benefit, not the other way around.

Scan at 150 DPI, in colour, then print = microdots gone

Microdots gone = "This is not the original document". In other words, forgery.

If I were worried about this, I'd just print my checks on yellow paper.

I'm sure he could specify the color.

The problem there would be getting an exact spectral match of the colors.

The government has many secretive ways to trace anything.For instance,a code embedded in a CD or DVD that uses UV to read/write,at a wavelength unavailable to the public.UV readable data could even be superimposed over regular data.

Data written to a "forbidden zone" on the hard drive,that is restricted by PC firmware,so that the read/write head will never go to that area.These areas are normally near the very inner tracks of the CD/DVD,which has a limited amount of storage area due to the slow relative speed in reference to the head.

There are also nano-ceramic balls that can be added to explosives or ammo that will survive the explosion and will leave an identification code with lots of data.

The public only sees the tip of the iceberg.

The military is usually 10 years ahead of the public in tech.

It's going to get much, much worse now.

The NSA has it all, already. There are still some restrictions, but probably not for long.

All anybody rally needs is access to Windows 10. It can tell them who wrote the check, the bank account # and even the keystrokes used.

Checks are becoming obsolete.Direct deposit and direct debit are becoming the standard.If you use a personal check at a store,they scan it and hand it back to you.

There is really no 100% fool proof way of sending information yet.Perhaps quantum computers will enable a more secure means,but I am sure someone is already working on how to hack it.

True Privacy is an illusion.

"For instance,a code embedded in a CD or DVD that uses UV to read/write,at a wavelength unavailable to the public.UV readable data could even be superimposed over regular data."

Are you aware of how CDs encode data? They are, in essence, a mirror finish with 'pits' marking the '1' bits. The wavelength of the laser does not really matter, as the reflection is specular, not diffuse; If the beam is reflected onto the target - data 0, if the beam does NOT reflect onto the target - data 1. There is no 'secret' wavelength to read the 'data within the data.'

"Data written to a "forbidden zone" on the hard drive,that is restricted by PC firmware,so that the read/write head will never go to that area.These areas are normally near the very inner tracks of the CD/DVD,which has a limited amount of storage area due to the slow relative speed in reference to the head."

If the firmware restricts access to that region, how does the government read/write to it? Overwrite the firmware to access the forbidden zone, then overwrite their 'patch' to put the original firmware back? And are you conflating Hard Drives with Optical drives here? Are we talking magnetic drives or CD drives, or both?

"There are also nano-ceramic balls that can be added to explosives or ammo that will survive the explosion and will leave an identification code with lots of data."

You don't even need nano-ceramic balls. Every tazer cartridge splatters the scene with confetti that contains the tracking number for that tazer cartridge. Thety're big enough to see, but good luck finding them all. Miss a single one and you've left behind an autographed smoking gun

There are viruses that can write to "forbidden" areas of your hard drive.

These viruses do not rewrite the firmware,yet they do access these areas,and still forbid normal access by consumer software.These viruses are particularly dangerous and hard to eliminate because reformatting the hard drive without special software will not eliminate them.

There are methods by which firmware can be totally erased and rewritten,usually by jumping certain pins on the motherboard or the chip itself,but these methods require physical access to the computer.Some of these methods are not revealed to the general public.

There are coatings that absorb or reflect specific wavelengths of light and do not affect others.

You can form your own opinions about how this can be used.

'Nuff said.

forbidden huh?,... would that be your FAT area's, ya,.. that would be bad.

You mean man has discovered paint? The Doomsday clock advances a little more...

Paints are quickly becoming old school.

Now they use nano-scale structures to produce colors,as in a butterfly wing..no pigments,but amazing colors.

The same technology can be used on DVD's with particle size tailored to a particular spectrum or single color.

In this manner,hidden code can be imbedded on DVD's that cannot be detected by consumer DVD readers/writers.

There are publicly available programs to write to and read from any sector of a hard drive which you choose. How do you envisage "forbidden" areas?

Modern hard drives have an OS that can not be written to - except with certain servo write programs. It runs a program on the hard drive board that watches for the emergence of bad segments. Once one has been found, it's location is banned from use by the drive and a good segment is mapped to that location, all the while maintain the drive at full nominal capacity. All data from the bad segment is transferred to the newly mapped segment. The deterioration is usually seen in advance for time to do this. A head strike on the platter can defeat this and can destroy data before it has been saved elsewhere. The head strike can be caused by a transient or dropping an operation computer. It may or may not result in data loss if a data diversity system has been established (various RAID arrays) read a few of these hits. https://www.google.ca/search?q=modern+hard+drive+data+mapping&oq=modern+hard+drive+data+mapping&aqs=chrome..69i57.9564j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

OK, so the forbidden areas are the reserve of good sectors, which the firmware swaps in to replace sectors which have become bad. Now please explain how a virus can access this area. It can only be by rewriting the table maintained by the firmware, which in turn means that the firmware is publicly accessible. I find it difficult to believe that the hardware manufacturer would allow programming access to the firmware without physical access to switches or jumper pins. Is this not being just a bit too paranoid?

Nope, not paranoid enough. It is naive to think that no one has access to the "hidden" areas of any device, after all, somebody had to do the original programming for it. Granted that the accessed data may be encrypted, but then how would an authorized person get access for maintenance, upgrades, etc.?

There are plenty of people out there with the requisite knowledge, nothing else to do, a grudge against their former employer(s), lots of state money being dangled in their face, or a gun pointed at a family member's head, etc.

This is a complex problem. Often the virus makers discover a repeatable exploit. That is what they call an unusual string of data that might over run a buffer - which eliminates the first in data, and traps the last bits, which is a command. No idea whet it may be, but buffer breakers try millions of patterns and from time to time they create an access point - which can then be used to command the drive CPU. This can be made to store programs on the protected areas and also tell the system they are used = mapped out. Then special commands can run them. They might instruct the system to send all the data on the drive to another place and erase this. The other place can be in Russia or a competitor. read a few of these https://www.google.ca/search?ei=jydIWpnqDsTIjwScv6zAAw&q=HDD+exploits&oq=HDD+exploits&gs_l=psy-ab.3...18216.21961.0.23704.8.8.0.0.0.0.88.619.8.8.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..0.7.545...0i7i30k1j0i8i7i30k1j0i7i5i30k1j0i67k1j0i5i30k1.0.15AtwhJby-M

We are talking of a different situation here. If you send your hard drive off to a forensic laboratory, I fully agree that they can break the seals, open it up, reposition programming jumpers and then access as much as they like. However, that is a world away from a virus getting at the hard drive OS through the normal data port.

Interesting link.However, I think that the average Joe sending a nasty-gram will not know to check theses restricted sectors for tracking info.

They will also not be able to purchase a CD/DVD drive with the proper laser frequency to read the hidden data on a CD/DVD.

One could of course be modified if the proper laser was available.

If they don't know it is there,they will not look for it,unless they are very savvy.

The Government could require all Hard Drive and/or DVD/CD manufacturers to embed a tracking code on the disc or hard drive by exercising the government purchase contracts as leverage.

Most government secure copiers also make a copy of everything printed and store it on a hard drive and a remote server with a large RAID.

Of course,for every measure there will always be a counter measure.

SPY vs SPY:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onR7PD3Grc0

Checks? Remind me......

Right!. I had to search for a checkbook to write each of the two checks I wrote in 2017. Both of them were for a new roof. I probably won't do that again in this lifetime.

I transfer money with Paypal all the time, you just need somebody's email or telephone number...it goes straight from any account you have listed to any account they have listed...then PP shoots you an email to confirm that you made this transaction...fast, free, secure, guaranteed, insured and backed by Paypal...no liability risk

PayPal? HA! And when they screw up, which DOES happen, it's absolute hell to deal with them.

Their 'customer service' department only exists to tell you that they are perfect, they never make mistakes, their website never goes offline, and that you should take a hike.

We still have to write checks to the boy's schools.

Otherwise, it's PayPal or sure-pay online. They print and mail the checks for us if the recipient isn't equipped for electronic checking. This is very handy for paying people in our small town in Minnesota.

See the security measures on Australian bank notes, including microprinting.
https://banknotes.rba.gov.au/counterfeit-detection/list-of-security-features/

My brother was a Cathay Pacific pilot (until 1992) and was passing through
the Middle East around 1am in the morning. He was coming to Australia for
holidays a few days later so decided to exchange US dollars for Aust Dollars,
and in particular for the new at that time $100 bill. It was grey and printed
on paper. (It has long since been replaced by a greenish, higher tech note).

In looking at the small collection of grey paper in the early hours, he asked
the money changer if the colour in his printer had run out!

If I recall, even the ink has some type of iron oxide or something to that affect. This use that for reading the checks bank account and routing numbers.

If it can't scan it upon cashing, the teller needs to enter it by hand.

That magnetic ink was for magnetic scanners/readers. It can't be required, because I regularly deposit checks electronically using nothing but optical photographs of the front and back taken by my iPhone, and the bank or credit union app.

After my time ran out I recalled it.

When I had my Design/Fabrication company (this was back in early 2000)., I just printed the checks on a standard inkjet printer.

It's known as the MICR system. It was designed with a font that is easily read by a human or magnetic reader, as well as an OCR system, which now eliminates the need for a special ink.