'Uncrackable' Document and Product Security?

Curunculus writes "The Engineer reports that a unique 'fingerprint' formed by microscopic surface imperfections on almost all paper documents, plastic cards and product packaging could be used as a cheaper method to combat fraud. One of the developers, Professor Cowburn commented: "The beauty of this system is that there is no need to modify the item being protected in any way with tags, chips or inks; it's as if documents and packaging have their own unique DNA. This makes protection covert, low-cost, simple to integrate into the manufacturing process and immune to attacks against the security feature itself." This system is now being commercialised via Ingenia Technology, a spin off company."

Comments

Fraud prevention?

[Joe Random]

From the article:

Using the optical phenomenon of 'laser speckle', researchers examined the fine structure of different surfaces using a focused laser, and recorded the intensity of the reflection. The technique was tried on a variety of materials including matt-finish plastic cards, identity cards and coated paperboard packaging and resulted in clear recognition between the samples. This continued even after they were subjected to rough handling including submersion in water, scorching, scrubbing with an abrasive cleaning pad and being scribbled on with thick black marker.

So let me get this straight; I can scrub on one of these "fingerprinted" document until the letters wear off, write whetever I want on it with a black marker, and it will pass the verification check? Doesn't that kind of prevent the entire purpose of fingerprinting documents in the first place?

"Well Mr. Random, while it is quite unusual to see a tax rebate check of *ahem* eleventy-billion dollars, the article passed all verification checks. We've deposited the amount into your account. Have a nice day."