Page 26 - Security Today, October 2017

The Next Big Step Applications for security apps and facility security
BOy Peter Boriskin
f all the megatrends being dis- cussed within the security in- dustry right now—from IoT to the Cloud to edge analyt- ics—there is one technology
among them that is most likely to have an im- mediate impact on the way businesses and fa- cilities of all sizes operate: mobile credentials.
Individuals have found that their phones and other smart devices can be used in their own homes to operate locks, and—along with the push for more IoT-enabled devices at work in general—they have come to expect the same level of sophistication and conve- nience at work.
But traditionally in the business realm, mobile credentials for access control were used only by the largest of enterprises. This was due to the ability of large corporations to issue company-controlled devices to employ- ees while also allowing a credentialing systems administrator to manage both the software and hardware. Or, in some cases, corporations planned and managed an effective BYOD (bring your own device) policy. Still, the cost of the system and the training required to use it served as barriers to entry to all but the most sophisticated systems administrators.
But the landscape has changed. As this demand increases through home use of these technologies, the learning curve to train indi- viduals on mobile applications has become far less demanding.
Further, the cost of implementation has fallen sharply in recent years. With mobile credentials becoming more dynamic and con- sumable, we’re starting to see the technology trickle down from those large enterprises into the rest of the market. The instances of mo- bile-supported product and device solutions have also increased substantially, making the deployment and use of the credentials more attractive and impactful to businesses. Be- cause of this trickle-down use in large enter- prise and the expectation of use in the home, the pressure to adapt to the technology is now being felt on both sides to adopt to the new normal. The expectation for mobile applica- tions for credentials among employees, resi- dents, students, contractors, and visitors will drive security in the coming years from what has traditionally been hardware-based access control, to a new way of doing business.
New Ways of Doing Busi- ness with Mobile Apps
Mobile credentialing has the potential to im-
prove overall business operations by allow- ing businesses and facilities to manage their workforce more efficiently with the process they use to distribute credentials. Physical key systems are extremely cumbersome to manage properly. Physical keys are difficult to distribute and track, and if lost, can result in an unsecured building or the added cost and difficulty of rekeying doors. In addition, there is no audit trail or way to know who accessed what.
By moving to a digital credentialing sys- tem, enterprise customers can utilize visitor management systems, offer expiring keys to contracted employees, and manager their own workforce through personal and com- pany devices.
For universities, these benefits are largely
the same. Credentials are offered to indi- viduals via a mobile application and can be set to expire at the end of a semester. This also provides a much more secure solution, since college students are far less likely to part with their smart phones than they are to pass off their campus ID or key card to let someone else into their residence hall. They are also far less likely to misplace or forget their smart phones, reducing lockouts and the need to issue new cards.
There is a further increase in efficiency gained by sending a credential over an en- crypted connection to a secure element in the user’s phone or mobile device. This is an improvement to having individuals report to an office that may potentially be offsite. For businesses or campuses that have multiple
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MOBILE CREDENTIALING
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