Countering Counterfeiting – Adversarial Analysis

When a central bank is designing a new series or upgrading the security of the existing designs how can it be certain that the security features selected will be resilient against counterfeiting? How do they choose from the many features and technologies on offer?

Central banks and suppliers of security features follow a process of adversarial analysis to test the resilience of features to counterfeiting and identify potential weaknesses. It requires the analyst to play the role of the counterfeiter and produce simulated counterfeit banknotes and their features in a laboratory.

But how does the analyst get inside the mind of the counterfeiter? Whilst we can’t see the counterfeiter, we can see what they have made. Forensic examination of counterfeit banknotes provides valuable insight into the materials and techniques that are used by counterfeiters to simulate all types of security feature.