Bayer: Science For A Better Life - research - Data security with holograms

Optical encryption ensures maximum data security

Keeping a keen eye on security

The PhenoStor® card: the data are stored in the orange strip.

Learning to read: Dr. Hardy Jüngermann experiments with the decryption technology.

How can data be protected from hackers and other intruders? Research scientists at Bayer Innovation GmbH and Bayer MaterialScience investigated this problem and came up with an answer in the form of PhenoStor®. This new plastic can be used on credit cards instead of the familiar dark magnetic strip, and the only clue to its presence is an orange, glossy metal coating.

Encrypted holograms

The new strip is the result of an advanced technology that allows PhenoStor® to optically store enormous quantities of data – about 10,000 times more than the conventional magnetic strip. They are stored as a hologram which is additionally encrypted, and can only be read using a special reading device. Hackers don’t stand a chance. This type of card could be used, for example, to restrict access to high-security areas, as a bank card, as a health insurance card, or as a combination of these. The following article describes the obstacles that Bayer’s researchers had to overcome to develop a functional access-control system with PhenoStor®.