How to Choose and Use Seals

Tamper-indicating seals have been in use for well over 7,000 years.1, 2 Today, seals are widely used for a variety of applications, including cargo security, nuclear safeguards, counterintelligence, theft detection, loss prevention, records security, employee drug testing, and election integrity.3-11 They protect money, transportation containers, footlockers, courier bags, filing cabinets, utility meters, hazardous materials, instrument calibrations, drugs, weapons, computer media, warehoused goods, and other critical items. At least 105 different generic methods are available for potentially defeating a seal.23 These include, for example, picking the seal open without leaving evidence, counterfeiting the seal, replicating the seal at the factory, changing the serial number, tampering with the database of seal serial numbers, drilling into the seal to allow interior manipulation and then repairing the hole, cutting the seal and repairing the damage, and not installing the correct seal in the first place and then later replacing it with the correct seal.