Difficult times for fraudsters: Diagramm Halbach has been commissioned to develop a forgery-proof document for a German government authority. A whole bundle of security elements have been combined in the paper bearing the federal eagle on a pale green background. The fact that an official government authority document is being produced at the premises of Diagramm Halbach is a tremendous mark of confidence. It isn't really surprising though. There are only six certified security printing houses in the whole of Germany that meet the most stringent standards and two of these belong to the Halbach Group.  Forgery-proof papers have now become indispensible in many areas of life. Diagramm Halbach applies a "protective shield" to admission tickets and many other types of documents to prevent manipulation, for example. The experts have a veritable arsenal of possible alternatives at their disposal for this. Security elements with special visible and invisible inks, or substrates, inks and coatings with chemical or mechanical reactions, analogue and digital watermarks, holograms, microprinting, guilloches, as well as static and dynamic bar codes, digital anti-copying marks and RFID technology. These components are combined to produce a complex and unique security package ? as is the case for the document developed for the government authority. Diagramm Halbach not only guarantees high security standards for the finished print product; the entire production process takes place under special security conditions.   The document for the government authority bears a clearly visible security element: the printed guilloche, with the finest lines interlacing to produce the eagle and the background pattern. Other safety precautions only become evident when attempts are made to tamper with the document. The original background disappears when the document is either photocopied or scanned. Furthermore, the document contains special concealed security elements. However, these must remain a secret because, as Matthias Oelenberg, head of ticket and security printing sales at Diagramm Halbach explains, "It's rather like the Hare and the Tortoise. We are always having to come up with new ideas in order to keep one step ahead of the forgers and counterfeiters."