Tech Solutions for Access Control and Visitor Management
March 29, 2017
With news of massive data breaches in the headlines every other week, it’s no surprise that security threats are a growing concern for businesses. A February 2017 study by Javelin Strategy & Research found that 15.4 million Americans were the victims of identity fraud in 2016, a dramatic increase of more than 2 million people from the year before.
From glittering high-rises to government labs, security professionals want to make sure they’re letting the right people into the building. It’s extremely important for a number of industries, including education, defense and airlines, to prevent security breaches and stop the unauthorized access of sensitive information.
Fortunately, there are a number of quick and easy technology based solutions for access control and visitor management. These solutions can be used to verify the identity of individuals entering your business.
ID Authentication & Scanning
ID scanning is used to authenticate an identity document and determine whether the holder should be allowed entry into the premises. There are several types of ID scanners that verify documents in multiple ways: Some scan the ID’s barcode, while others read the ID’s magnetic stripe like a credit card, and more robust software can perform forensic tests to ensure that an ID is not forged.
Solutions such as this can be facilitated via a desktop scanner, but there are also more modern and efficient experiences via mobile apps and self-service kiosks. These are especially helpful for high traffic environments and also offer a solution for employee and personnel access monitoring in high risk buildings.
In the event of a crime or disturbance, an integrated ID scanning solution can track the history of the documents that it reads in order to identify potential suspects. Scanners allow businesses to capture information such as an individual’s name, age, gender, photograph and other identifying information, along with the date and time of access into their applications. Businesses can easily create and manage visitor logs and even use this technology to facilitate easy badge printing with accurate information. In addition, they can maintain a list of VIP or banned users among the business’s clientele to check against when an ID is scanned, alerting employees of preferred or barred status.
Biometric Security Measures
Although ID scanning is an effective way of controlling access, it doesn’t verify that the ID holder and the ID owner are the same person – after all, IDs can be stolen or fake. To do this, you’ll need to use alternate security measures. One example is biometric security, which identifies a person’s unique traits, such as in facial recognition, fingerprints, voice or eye patterns.
Biometric security measures are more secure than ID scanning because they effectively remove the chance of impersonation. They are automated and extremely quick while leaving very little room for error. Another benefit is that biometric security measures can easily be added to existing security systems that are mobile, desktop or even kiosks, in order to provide secure authentication.
No matter your environment, it does not hurt to think about simple but effective ways to be more secure.
