8. A method for checking the authenticity of security documents, in particular banknotes, wherein authentic security documents comprise security features printed, applied or otherwise provided on the security documents, which security features comprise characteristic visual features intrinsic to the processes used for producing the security documents, said method comprising the steps of: digitally processing a sample image of at least one region of interest of the surface of a candidate document to be authenticated, which digital processing includes performing one or more iterations of a multiresolution analysis of the sample image to extract classifying features which are characteristic of said security features and which are used to position the candidate document in a feature space enabling classification of the candidate document; and deriving an authenticity rating of the candidate document based on the extracted classifying features and the positioning of the candidate document in the feature space.
8. A method for checking the authenticity of security documents, in particular banknotes, wherein authentic security documents comprise security features printed, applied or otherwise provided on the security documents, which security features comprise characteristic visual features intrinsic to the processes used for producing the security documents, said method comprising the steps of: digitally processing a sample image of at least one region of interest of the surface of a candidate document to be authenticated, which digital processing includes performing one or more iterations of a multiresolution analysis of the sample image to extract classifying features which are characteristic of said security features and which are used to position the candidate document in a feature space enabling classification of the candidate document; and deriving an authenticity rating of the candidate document based on the extracted classifying features and the positioning of the candidate document in the feature space. 36. The method according to claim 8 , wherein said classifying features are statistical parameters selected from the group comprising the arithmetic mean (first moment in statistics), the variance (σ2, second moment in statistics), the skewness (third moment in statistics), the excess (C, fourth moment in statistics), and the entropy of the statistical distribution of spectral coefficients representative of high resolution details of the sample image at a fine scale.