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With ongoing network innovations, including advances with the Internet, information security is drawing increasing attention. Moreover, following the enactment of the Act on the Protection of Personal Information, businesses and governmental agencies that handle substantial amounts of personal information are now at greater risk of leaking information and are busy addressing this issue. Furthermore, demands for reinforced internal controls are also becoming prevalent in response to the Japanese Sarbanes-Oxley (J-SOX) Act.
Against this backdrop, the safety of operational systems and digital data has been ensured through various security technologies. Nevertheless, in terms of security for paper documents, current technology merely consists of deterring duplication such as by using watermarked papers on which the words “Classified Document” appear when photocopied and by tracing information leakage paths. Consequently, hardly any technology exists that physically prevents documents from being improperly removed from the premises. In light of these circumstances, Fuji Xerox has become the first in the world to develop a technology that incorporates special function materials into plain paper, as a means to physically prevent the leaking of information through the detection of these materials.
The special function materials incorporated into plain paper consist of extra-fine lines which are a few dozen microns in diameter and the paper may be used normally in our multifunction devices and printers. By installing at building and office entrances sensors that detect these special materials, unauthorized movement of the classified documents will be recorded and actual acts of leakage may be remotely monitored. Moreover, if necessary, warnings may be issued on the spot, movements may be thwarted by the closing of gates or e-mails can be automatically sent to security administrators. Additionally, sensors mounted on the scanners and copiers can prevent scanning and copying, and sensors installed in the insertion slots of shredders can prevent classified documents from being accidentally shredded. This technology can not only guard against intentional information leaks but also accidental losses of information.
This technology involves incorporating into sheets of plain paper during manufacturing extra-fine amorphous magnetic wire having a diameter of about 40 microns, thinner than strands of human hair. The operation principle behind the detection of these magnetic wires will be explained below.
Amorphous magnetic wires, unlike general magnetic materials, have the characteristic of reacting to low-intensity oscillating magnetic fields and repeating magnetization reversals. This magnetic characteristic is generally referred to as the large Barkhausen effect and is used, for example, in magnetic sensor applications.
Using this characteristic, oscillating magnetic fields with amplitudes of certain minimum levels are conducted into the amorphous magnetic wires that have been incorporated into plain paper, from a magnetizing coil installed from a distance of up to 1meter. The magnetic wire then repeats the magnetization reversals periodically, and the opposing detection coil detects the electric pulses accompanying the magnetization reversals.
The permeability of the magnetic fields enables a sensor to detect their existence even if, for example, the magnetic wire-incorporated paper was to be rolled up and put into a suit pocket or a brief case in an attempt to sneak the paper.
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GLOBAL | Overseas
