Page 92 - Security Today, March 2017

Providing
Access
Integrator collaborator creates major healthcare security solution BAy Scott Lindley
Michigan based health care provider that features two main campuses and has dozens of remote and satel- lite care centers had, for years, deployed a magnetic stripe card-based Galaxy Control Systems access control system integrated, installed and serviced by
VidCom Solutions in Lansing. The system included both ID badging and video integration.
“The system kept expanding and, ultimately, the end user decided to update the system to the latest Galaxy platform and, simultane- ously, upgrade from magnetic stripe to 125 kHz proximity cards and readers,” said Greg Simmer, president/owner of VidCom Solutions. “By this time, the size of the system was impressive, having grown to more than 1,000 doors and 40,000 card holders.”
“After contacting Galaxy Control Systems and Farpointe Data, the industry OEM for RFID-based access cards and readers, a bid was submitted for changing out the installed magnetic stripe card system.
“ “Since the transition would happen over time, our quote to Vid- Com included Farpointe’s combination proximity/magnetic stripe cards,” executive vice president of Galaxy, Rick Caruthers said.
“Greatly simplifying the administration of the change-over, this would allow employees to use their new card on the legacy magnetic stripe readers and, once the new proximity readers were installed, to keep using the same card.
““Our team secured the deal and, as always on a win, we were ready to celebrate when I got a call from the customer,” Simmer said. “When they told us to tear up the P.O., I almost swallowed my tongue. However, this surprise was followed by learning they were still going ahead with the upgrade but they wanted to future proof the hospital system by moving to contactless smart cards. That made me feel much better.”
Hospital Required Heightened Security
It turned out that this health care provider wanted to create a one- card solution leveraging the use of 13.56MHz technology to ulti- mately support a cashless medical campus, eliminating internal se- curity threats while facilitating higher levels of security. Among the functions of the new system would be secure reads of access data with the ability to utilize the remaining sectors and secure storage for other identification uses in applications other than electronic access control at doors.
“Realizing the new request for even tighter security, we went be- yond simply bidding smart cards,” Simmer said. “We thoroughly ex- plained the built-in encryption features of the cards and also added a major security option that Farpointe offers, MAXSecure.”
“Simmer explained that many customers have heard that smart cards are more secure than proximity cards but don’t know why. He feels that integrators that explain the importance of MIFARE, and in particular DESFire EV1 technology, will always have a step up on integrators that don’t.
“That’s because a 13.56MHz contactless smart card based upon DESFire EV1 uses 128 bit AES encryption, the same as used by the
U.S. federal government. DESFire EV1 is based on open global stan- dards for both air interface and cryptographic methods. It is nor- mally compliant to all 4 levels of ISO/IEC 14443A and can make use of optional ISO/IEC 7816-4 commands.
“Smart cards with MIFARE DESFire EV1 protection are ideal for sales to large health care service networks, such as the Michigan provider we service, wanting to use secure multi-application smart cards in access management or closed-loop e-payment applications,” Simmer said. “They fully comply with the requirements for fast and highly secure data transmission, flexible memory organization and interoperability with existing infrastructures.”
“Featuring an on-chip backup management system and mutual three pass authentication, a DESFire EV1 card can typically hold up to 28 different applications and 32 files per application. The size of each file is defined at the moment of its creation, making DESFire EV1 a truly flexible and convenient product platform. Additionally, an automatic anti-tear mechanism is available for all file types, which helps guarantee transaction oriented data integrity. With DESFire EV1, data transfer rates up to 848 kbit/s can be achieved, allowing fast data transmission.
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HEALTHCARE SECURITY