• Driver's licenses are key pieces of identification.porte-feuille3 image by Charly from Fotolia.com
  
  Your driver's license plays a key role in establishing your identity by verifying your name, residence and age and proving your legal authorization to drive a car and make certain purchases. The state agencies that issue driver's licenses therefore take license security very seriously. Since 2005, many states have implemented new security features. The absence of these features identifies a driver's license as fake, making falsifying driver's licenses more difficult for forgers and identity thieves.
  
  

Printing

• Many states now produce driver's licenses with features impossible to reproduce using consumer-level printers. Virginia, for example, prints extremely fine lines, patterns and lettering onto licenses and ID cards and uses lasers to engrave lettering directly into cards instead of printing on card surfaces.
  
  

Photographs

• States now use digital photographs for driver's licenses. This allows your state's department of motor vehicles (DMV) or equivalent agency to store a digital copy of your photograph for future identification purposes, making identity theft more difficult. Additionally, states now print photographs directly onto driver's licenses instead of laminating printed photographs onto the cards. Many states also issue driver's licenses with smaller, lighter "ghost" or holographic secondary photos, making fake driver's licenses more difficult to produce.
  
  

Holograms

• Most state-issued driver's licenses now come with holograms printed onto the clear card overlay. Common holograms include state names and insignia. Like secondary photographs and laser engraving, these holograms cannot be reproduced using desktop printing equipment and make differentiating between fake and real driver's licenses easier.
  
  

Issuing

• States no longer issue driver's licenses immediately upon application at DMV offices. Instead, agencies print the licenses at secure off-site facilities and mail them to applicants. This provides an additional layer of security to prevent identity thieves from fraudulently receiving driver's licenses.