Access control:The changing face   

            Recently, because much of the information that companies work with is electronic, securing both physical and logical assets is important. Protecting both physical property and knowledge-based soft assets is vital to a company’s success and continued growth.

The world of access control has fundamentally changed. The system that used to just open doors now improves information security, increases productivity, more effectively manages scarce resources, enhances guest experiences and produces revenue for the end user where previously there were only costs. Recently, because much of the information that companies work with is electronic, securing both physical and logical assets is important. Protecting both physical property and knowledge-based soft assets is vital to a company’s success and continued growth.

                Controlling access to IT applications has traditionally relied solely upon user names and passwords. However with the increasing proliferation of IT applications in the workplace, many employees now have to remember as many as a dozen sets of user names and passwords, which are inconvenient and cumbersome to use. People frequently forget their logon credentials causing them to be locked out of their accounts and prevented from doing their work. Even worse, some frustrated employees may decide to write their passwords down, which increases the chances that their passwords will be stolen or misused.

                This is why convergence applications that use smart cards for physical and logical access control, such as single sign-on, are being widely adopted by many major access control manufacturers. Smart cards used in conjunction with passwords provide for an additional layer of security, now that you are utilizing a more secure authentication process, you can confidently utilize single sign-on. Single sign-on is a business efficiency tool that enables a user to authenticate only once. The user can then gain access to different network applications, databases and platforms. This includes customized Windows and Web applications, as well as host-based or terminal applications. Sometimes people do not log off their computers when stepping away from their workstations, if one is required to use a smart card to log onto the computer, and is logged off as soon as the smart card is removed from the workstation, the possibility of an unsecured workstation is greatly reduced if not fully eliminated. Also, by integrating physical and logical security, when a cardholder leaves the building, his or her account can be disabled, restricting further access while the person is off-site.

Convergence applications
To facilitate IT security, a powerful contact chip capable of providing Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) cryptography is embedded into the smart card. PKI is an industry standard method for exchanging information and communicating securely on IT systems. It relies on the use of public and private key pairs stored in digital certificates that are uniquely assigned to individual users to provide secure communication and access. By using the PKI support it is possible to encrypt documents and digitally sign messages, such as e-mail, so that the sender and recipient can be confident that the communication has not been corrupted, read or changed in anyway. Microsoft applications such as Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Exchange routinely support smart cards. One can also use the smart card to protect access to confidential documents in Word such as legal agreements or purchase orders, or you might want to use it to control changes to financial or customer data in Excel documents.

Other applications include protecting access to VPNs (Virtual Private Networks), Thin Clients and Pre-Boot Authentication solutions. Because your credentials are stored on the smart card, they are portable and you can carry them with you wherever you go. This means that it is possible to authenticate yourself and gain appropriate access to an organization’s buildings and IT applications even if you have to work at different sites, are traveling, or are simply working from home.

Business management
A business management application of an integrated access control system takes all information gained from the access system and utilizes business rules from other systems. Through software integration, business management systems such as time and attendance and enterprise resource planning (ERP) can share information. That same information gathered by a security management system has value to other areas of a business. Integrating a business system with a security management system can maximize the value of both systems to the customer, for example, events passed from the security management system to the business system can instantly provide information about new hires and terminated employees, and can be used by the payroll system to calculate compensation.

                Human resource (HR) management also benefits from integration. All demographic information that HR departments enter for new hires into their databases, such as names and departments, can be automatically transferred into the security management system so there is no need to duplicate data implementation. This greatly reduces the chance of errors and improves overall efficiency. Security systems can provide valuable information to the customer. Information about arrival and departure of employees, number of employees in a specific area, and the location of an employee within the facility are all valuable pieces of information that can be easily gleaned from the security management system.

Integrated applications save money
As gas prices have sky rocketed, companies that distribute credits to designated employees must do more than control purchases with honor systems. An access control reader can now be installed on gas pumps to help gas stations monitor use. The user has to swipe the company gasoline card and key in the mileage, the access control reader communicates with gas pumps so that number of liters sold is automatically recorded and sent to the user’s company. This will become a major market as energy prices continue to soar. Gas stations in Europe are now required by law to install cameras to monitor safety. Those cameras can also be used to record, enabling station staff to check if users are the valid card holder by comparing images against photos stored in the access control database. They can also check license plate information to see if the vehicle is the designated car. Parking and hospitality are also using such applications to manage room and parking reservations. Parking can be scarce at ski resorts during peak season. Physical access control systems can be integrated with parking management software.

                Now, all rental agents use a common interface to assign parking; agents are allocated an inventory of parking spaces and unused spaces are pooled and made available at designated times, guests receive a parking permit to display on their vehicles. Each permit has a microchip, which can be programmed remotely by the rental management agent. The chip can be programmed to contain a variety of data, including check-in and check-out dates. Parking management software can also be integrated to manage reservations and credentials for common areas such as spas and fitness centers. In addition to bringing significant revenue to resort owners, integrated access control and parking management systems improve the guest experience. Another integrated access control application, cashless vending, is also enhancing shoppers’ experiences.

                Smart card users can load value onto the card using an electronic money loader. This card can then be used to make purchases at vending machines, staff restaurants or any point-of-sale (PoS) terminal located within the business or on the premises, cashless technology generates several additional benefits such as the reduced costs of cash handling, faster transaction times to dramatically reduce queuing time in the canteen, improved convenience because users no longer have to remember to carry cash to make purchases, and better since coins are no longer needed something vitally important in, for example, hospital environments.

Important verticals
Promising verticals for integrated access control include financial and retail sectors. The biggest security concern for banks is information. The complexity and sensitivity of personal banking information are extremely high; users can access and protect information, for example, with integrated solutions. If users don’t have access to the door, they don’t have access to the information. The possibility of having someone hack into bank information systems using a false VPN is thus minimized, integrated access applications are more often seen in the retail vertical, which benefits most from sharing data,” said Leonard. “With access control, video, intrusion and information management, users not only monitor entry and exit of personnel, but also supervise delivery and dropoff of goods, flow of customers, PoS databases and customer information.