A wide variety of security devices, for example optical tags, are used in packaging and currency applications to establish authenticity. Many of the devices are incompatible with the hot aqueous environment encountered in the manufacture of paper or paperboard. A number of attempts have been made to make tags hydrophilic in order to incorporate them into paper. The present invention takes an entirely different approach by instead supporting a taggant in a heterogenous support and incorporating the composite of the taggant and the support into the paper making process.