Page 50 - Security Today, September 2020

How to Prepare Your System COVID-19 exposes threats and vulnerabilities as companies reopen
By Rich Mellot
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged companies’ security in new ways and exposed an in- creasing number of threats and vulnerabilities. As they plan to reopen and consider their company’s fu- ture, security teams will not only need to evaluate their current security systems but better understand what security means to them in the new norm.
Managing people on your company’s property through ac- cess control systems will matter more than ever before. While you likely added or changed your company policies regarding access during the pandemic, it’s time to consider how you’ll prepare for the post-pandemic mindset. This means security teams will place greater value on the ability to track and manage traffic flow and understand exactly who is coming and going from their facility.
In addition, to ensure that all individuals in and out of their facility have been properly screened at the point of entry, some businesses are even talking about post-entry screening as changes can occur throughout the workday.
Looking ahead, there are essential tools and resources you’ll need to prepare for the post-pandemic working world.
ENHANCE YOUR VISITOR MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
With employees and visitors returning to offices, companies want to more effectively screen those who are accessing their premises. Visitor management systems have been used before to screen and grant access to on-site visitors, but those systems are maturing. Some now include contractor, vendor and employee identity management, pre-screening questions, hygienic touchless interfaces and tools to automate workflows and ensure proper compliance with company policies.
Because of these improvements, advanced visitor manage- ment technologies can provide an important security layer to your access control policies, enforcing compliance and integrat- ing seamlessly with your current security systems.
For example, human temperature screening devices, which scan exposed skin with thermal imaging sensors to detect elevated tem- peratures, can add an extra screening layer to your visitor man- agement system. Some of these systems deployed require staff to monitor the screening process, while others include additional automation to allow for more flexibility with the overall solution.
These systems, however, still require periodic monitoring to ensure the environment or other conditions do not impact the accuracy of your subject’s skin temperature readings. Depending on the solution, day or time of year, it may require adjustments for temperature deviation, thresholds or recalibration.
Also, depending on your company’s location, you may be gov- erned by specific regulations like EEOC, ADA, HIPAA and FDA
“While you likely added or changed your company policies regarding access during the pandemic, it’s time to consider how you’ll prepare for the post-pandemic mindset.”
compliance requirements, so ensure your system meets those ex- pectations and that your internal policies reflect them.
A major misconception around human temperature screening technology is that it can detect viruses like COVID-19. These so- lutions cannot detect surface contamination nor asymptomatic individuals, and higher skin temperature does not always equate to illness. Ensure you follow CDC guidelines and be aware of your state and local requirements. These screening devices are part of your larger access control system and strategy. They’re tools that are part of a policy and program to help you mitigate risk of your visitors and human assets.
Another area of risk in these systems is the pen and paper logbook: manually tracking visitors to your property is time- consuming and difficult to use to enforce policies, not to mention creating a common touchpoint where illness could be spread. In- stead of paper, electronic visitor management kiosks let compa- nies easily screen and track people, and produce visitor badges without manual management from additional company staff. You can also ask screening questions at the digital kiosk, such as recent travel locations, health symptoms or exposure to oth- ers who were diagnosed with COVID-19. The benefits of kiosks extend to as many sites as you have, with increased convenience, compliance and visibility across your company.
IMPLEMENT CLOUD-BASED ACCESS CONTROL SOLUTIONS
When companies closed offices and moved teams to remote work, it showed many security teams the importance of being able to fully access their systems for remote management to adapt quickly and respond to the new security environment, needs and potential threats. While your on-site access control may have in- cluded steps like checking exterior doors, collecting master keys and conducting access audits, moving to a remote setting requires new cloud-based technologies to give you a more omnipresence within your business to respond to threats with deeper levels of operational insights.
As we’ve seen during the pandemic, many companies needed to update their access privileges quickly with limited staff access to
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