Discussion on the Application of Tracking Codes on Color Laser Printouts in Information Security and Document Anti-counterfeiting

The development of color laser printing technology greatly facilitates daily work and life, but also bring challenges to information security and document safety. As a form of information concealment technology that is not easily visible to the naked eye, tracking codes provide a new method for non-destructive examination of questioned document and have high research value. The experiment collected 30 colour laser printers from three brands and printout samples, observed the samples with the multi-band light source of the video spectral comparator (VSC). The samples were meticulously examined, measured, and marked with the VSC. Studied the extraction and analysis methods of tracking codes and dot matrix patterns, and explored the value of tracking codes on color laser printouts in information security and the application of document anti-counterfeiting and traceability. It has been shown that tracking codes appear on color laser printouts, and the dot matrix patterns are related to the brand and model, and the analysis of more information about the tracking codes needs further research. Tracking codes can be used as a special technical means of document counterfeit protection and traceability, and for information security.