Hologram security seals are a common way to protect products, boxes, equipment, and even locations. If you're looking into these solutions, you might wonder what they are and how much security value they have. Businesses and organizations should know these four things about holographic security seals.

What Is a Hologram Seal?

A hologram is an image that looks different depending on the viewing angle of the observer. While you might think of holograms as projected images, such as are common in science fiction movies, there are also versions that exist on 2-D surfaces. Whenever light hits a hologram, the reflective surface determines the angle it bounces. Consequently, this changes the appearance.

Anti-Tampering

The main value of hologram security seals is to discourage tampering and reveal if anything has happened. A holographic image on the seal will only look correct if it's in original condition. If someone tampers with the seal, it will permanently disrupt the hologram. Even if the tampering party puts the seal back on cleanly, the process of removing and returning it will mess with the underlying image significantly. 

In retail, this is a popular solution for preventing theft, fraud, and counterfeiting. A common practice is to buy or steal a product and replace the original with a counterfeit. The person then sells the counterfeit. However, a buyer can check the seal for proof that the product was tampered with, and this can support chargebacks or even prosecutions.

Similarly, holographic security seals have value in many legal, industrial, security, and laboratory environments. Consider what happens when the police send a blood sample to a lab. They need a tamper-proof way to show that no one has messed with the sample between the times of seizure and testing. Likewise, they need to show that no tampering happened after getting the sample back. Holographic security seals serve this purpose well.

Non-Scannable

The reflective properties of holograms make them impossible to scan. Someone can't take a picture of the image, either, because it will only reflect one angle. This makes reproduction of the images impossible for all but the most dedicated and professional parties.

Customization

You can use basic security seals or have a company produce custom holograms. The main benefit of a custom solution is additional security. Someone can't simply buy your custom security images off an e-commerce website. If the custom images are in good shape, you will have even higher confidence that no tampering has happened. If you're worried about a security seal on a piece of equipment, for example, this can provide extra peace of mind.

Turn to a company like NanoGrafix to find out more.