Category Archives: Access Control

Access Control. Is it just an expensive waste of time?

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I recently carried out a security risk assessment on a very large site in Yorkshire. The primary purpose was to satisfy the customers need to know why his access control was so unreliable and why there were people on site that clearly had not fobbed through their designated access points, more importantly why was he suffering internal losses?.

Administered from head office.

The access control software is administered off site at their head office. The building in question is big place, the size of 3 football pitches with many entry points. At first it all went well, getting through the main gate was difficult. The guard wanted to know who I was what I was doing there etc. It was from there though that things started to unravel. The first door I tried opened without a problem. The reader indicated that it should be locked. I checked out the door furniture and found that the maglock was “missing”….not good! I carried on through two more unprotected doors and up to the main warehouse entry door. Not once was I challenged. I pushed open the door again this should have been locked, but the door itself was warped and would not close even if it was forced…another fail.

At the heart of the operation.

At this point I found myself in amongst goods of quite some value with not one sole seeming to care as I passed through the goods in area. At any point I could have picked up valuable items and carried them back out the way I came in. I continued on around the site and found that this trend of open doors and broken locks continued. It seemed wherever the staff did not have access they simply removed (by force) the maglock and there seemed no management structure in place to pick this up. Of course the locks and doors should have been monitored but apparently although this was originally designed into the system it was too annoying for the administrator who had other work to do as well so the alarms had been disabled. I was fairly shocked that a company willing to pay many thousands of pounds for a sophisticated access control system with top end software that could really do just about anything they needed,  just had no idea how to use it! Having completed my site visit I returned to my car and headed out of the site. I was stopped by the barrier from leaving, at last some kind of security? No…The guard seeing my car simply opened the gate without even raising his head and waved me through. Surely he would at least search my car?

Conclusion.

So in conclusion. My findings are winging their way to the company M.D as we speak. I am waiting to hear what the repercussions will be. Access control is a brilliant solution when used properly and a proactive security measure but I have seen exactly this scenario many times before. It seems to me that there are many factors that need to be addressed by end users who buy expensive access control packages consisting of biometric fingerprint readers, and very expensive software. Of all these factors it seems that the training and on going risk assessments carried out by their access control installers is poor to non existent. This article should serve to remind all access control users that a system is only as good as the people who look after it!

WJ-NV200

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Panasonic sales staff are have been touting the benefits of the WJ-NV200, their new IP CCTV offering to the security market place. With good reason. They are all very excited about the product and the features that have been incorporated into it. One of them, facial recognition, is certainly an interesting concept. Could it be used as an access control tool to replace biometric readers and card entry systems by opening doors to only those who it recognises?. We have reviewed the WJ-NV200 and see this as an important development for Panasonic and the future of IP surveillance systems.  See the full news and product review.

integrated security systems

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Integrated security solutions.

Integrated security systems are becoming an ever more popular security solution for larger organizations today. Many facility managers are fed up with dealing with lots of different companies for lots of different sites and all the associated paperwork and costs involved. It is now a lot easier with the advent of IP security solutions to integrate fire, intruder, access control and CCTV into one simple package covering a multitude of sites.

Integration is the way forward.

Honeywell, Cortec and Risco are just a few of the big manufacturers out there who have recognised that integrated security systems over IP offer the end user huge advantages and exceptional cost savings, once that is the initial outlay is taken into consideration.

So easy.

The beauty of  total integration of security systems is detailed mapping and fault analysis from one location. It is difficult if not impossible within larger organizations to control costs on fragmented security arrangements with lots of different security companies, sorting all the different administration and keeping track of engineer visits. Quite frankly this can be daunting.

Integrated access control.

It is also true that within large organisations and multiple site locations that staff movements and employment changes make it difficult to control and administer access control rights. However one person using one lot of integrated security software in one location will have far more control. This is also true of compulsory fire tests, CCTV maintenance visits CCTV camera outages and so the list goes on. IP has now made it possible to get a realistic view of the whole company suite and keep control of what may have previously been uncontrollable.

Expensive?

So what would you expect to pay for an integrated security system? This is difficult to assess without knowing the full specification of the sites you wish to integrate and the security systems that will be integrated. Most CCTV security software packages have a basic product and then additional bolt ons that require a licence per module. It is crucial therefore that when specifying a fully integrated security system that detailed planning is put into place before any decision is made on the software package you decide to purchase.

Specify an integrated security system.

If you require further guidance or information on integrated security solutions that are out in the market place today, feel free to make contact and we will be happy to help

Biometric finger print reader

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Biometric fingerprint readers.

Biometric finger print readers are undoubtedly the future of access control. The traditional methods of access control solutions uses either fobs , proximity cards or key codes. All of these suffer from one basic floor, they are all easily compromised.

Security floor.

Quite simply , a code can be told to anyone , a card and fob passed to a friend or colleague. Of course its not always that easy as access control software does have some basic security functions to recognise misuse. However, ultimately once this is discovered the system has already been compromised and quite simply this is not acceptable .

Total security.

So how does the biometric fingerprint reader protect against this. Well we  all have a unique fingerprint , this cannot be replicated, so the person presenting their fingerprint data is the person who is genuinely allowed through the door.

Why use anything else?

Why have businesses not adopted this means of entry before then? Well they have tried , but  biometric readers are to say the least unreliable, dirt, dust and rain all affect the quality of of the data being read from the fingerprint and to be fair they are very slow. Fingerprint data takes a lot of processing power to ensure it is correct and standing outside a door for 3 or four seconds may not seem a long time but on well used doors it is untenable

Integrated access control solution.

So has anything changed? Well yes, companies know it is the way forward and in the last couple of years big steps have been taken to improve the technology.  iEVO are one such company that has now produced a full proof solution. By integrating their technology with partner companies such as Paxton we see a fast, full proof solution.

They actually save money!

large organisations that get through numerous employees and vast numbers of cards will see huge savings by migrating to biometric solutions. It will not be long before these fingerprint readers are common place and we will all soon get used to fast effective entry solution. Best of all, we carry the key on our own person.

International Security Exhibitions

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We may be based in the UK, but we always like to follow some of the up and coming International Exhibitions!

Volcano ash permitting, we are looking to bring good information on emerging technologies from the following exhibitions in 2010

ESSEN – Essen, Germany 5th to 8th October

ASIS – Texas, USA 12th to 15th October

ISC EAST – New York, USA 3rd and 4th November

more to follow!