Page 34 - Security Today, May 2018

Access Control
Smartphone Popularity By Scott Lindley GSovernment credentials finding a new home on the smartphone
martphones fulfill many needs, including telephone, camera, navigation, music, video, clock, news, calculator, email, inter- net, gaming, contacts, and more. Security professionals creat- ing access control systems need to be aware that more than
95 percent of all adults 18 to 44 years old own smartphones. Plus, 69 percent of the entire population (babies through seniors) already use smartphones. The average smartphone user touches their device 2,617 times a day, according to Dscout Research.
Thus, practically anyone using an access control system already carries a smartphone. Another way to look at it: Every smartphone user, or almost everybody, can now easily download an access con- trol credential.
Mobile credentials are smartphone-based versions of traditional RFID cards and tags. Mobile credentials make it possible for smart- phones, such as the Apple iPhone and range of Google Android de- vices, to be used as an electronic access control credential.
No longer will government employees need various physical cre- dentials to move throughout a facility. Instead, a person’s iPhone or Android smartphone, which they carry with them wherever they go, will have the credentials they need to enter into any authorized access system. In fact, such a system can reach beyond the facility into their homes, their automobiles or at the gym.
“Mobile has already disrupted so much in both our personal lives and the enterprise, but we are still tapping an old school badge on a door access reader,” David Anthony Mahdi, research director at Gartner Research said. “It’s a dichotomy. On one side we are doing all these amazing things with our phones but then we are still using 20-plus year-old technology to get into our buildings.”
Referred to as mobile or soft, smartphone-based access control credentials are another version of traditional RFID cards and tags, joining proximity and smart card credentials to support a user as they move about a secured facility. Gartner suggests that by 2020, 20 per- cent of organizations will use mobile credentials for physical access in place of traditional ID cards. Soft credentials provide several advan- tages over hard credentials. They are more convenient, less expensive and more secure. This is true for both end users and installers.
They are more convenient because the user already has his cre- dentials and already carries it with him wherever he goes. Creden- tials can be delivered to the end user in either paper or electronic form, such as via email or text. The dealer has nothing to inventory and nothing to ship. Likewise, the user sponsor has nothing to store, nothing to lose and faces no physical replacement hassles. Costs are lowered as nobody must undertake “1sy-2sy” replacement orders.
Original soft access control systems are already being used by in- novators, approximately five percent of users, according to Gartner. There were the typical drawbacks with a new technology. Before they switched to soft credentials, the next wave of users requested smart- phone solutions that eliminate many of the frustrations that they dis- covered with their original smartphone apps and hardware, the main
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GOVERNMENT SECURITY MAY 2018
one being complicated implementation practices. The newer solu- tions provide an easier way to distribute credentials with features that allow the user to register only once and need no other portal accounts or activation features. By removing these additional information dis- closures, vendors eliminated privacy concerns that have been slowing down acceptance of mobile access systems.
One additional concern held back some buyers: What if the baby boomers at our facility don’t have a smartphone? Problem solved. Just be sure that your soft credential reader can also use a smart card.
Technical Stuff Quickly Explained
Just like hard credentials, soft credentials can support the 26-bit Wie- gand format along with custom Wiegand, ABA Track II magnetic stripe and serial data formats. They can be ordered with specific facil- ity codes and ID numbers. They are delivered in the exact number sequence ordered with no gaps and no under- or over-runs.
Two technologies are used: Bluetooth and near field communi- cation (NFC). Bluetooth readers are less expensive because almost every smartphone already has Bluetooth. Not even 50 percent of all smartphones yet have NFC.
Bluetooth’s other big advantage is read range, up to 30 feet. Plus, installers can provide adjustable read ranges and differ them for vari- ous applications. For instance, they could be six inches at the com- puter access control reader but 24 inches at the front door. When entering the facility gate, a still longer read range, perhaps six feet, can be provided so users don’t have to open their car window to reach the reader. NFC readers only operate with a read range of a few inches,