'Chemical fingerprints' next step in asset security.

• Author: WALCHUK, KEVIN
• Position: Digicorp Securities Inc. - Brief Article

Sudbury-based Digicorp Securities Inc. is using digital insurance documentation and forensic theft prevention techniques to help protect business owners in Northern Ontario from theft and property damage.

Established three months ago, Digicorp documents personal and business property, including electronic equipment, furniture and jewelry, with the use of digital cameras.

"We can get as detailed as a customer would like -- from general pictures of a room to high detailed photographs of serial numbers and model types," says Miklos Tihanyi, president and chief executive officer of Digicorp.

Clients are provided with a CD containing records of all their labelled items. For a small one-time fee, customers can leave a secured copy of the disc with Digicorp. Digicorp also offers a system of forensic identification and labelling for residential and business owners.

"Forensic tracer solutions" are an anti-theft deterrent device created by Probe FX, a security company based in the United Kingdom. A non-toxic tracer chemical can be applied to any item of value. Every piece of property labelled with the chemical has its own "corporate fingerprint" or identifying marker, which makes it unique.

Digicorp then records information, including model type, serial number, owner, address and the individual chemical fingerprints of each item into its own database.

Through the use of ultraviolet light, stolen items that have been treated with the chemical can be identified by police. A sample of the chemical is removed from the stolen item, analyzed at a lab, and traced back to the...