Page 76 - Security Today, July/August 2021

“...millions of Americans are skipping their second vaccine done and their numbers are growing. Reasons vary, including the fear
of side effects or a pretense that they believe they are sufficiently protected with a single dose.”
administration.”
Digital Transformation and Security Convergence have proved
as the best way to move forward and support enterprise return- to-work plans. A perfect example is the recent California law AB-685, which requires public and private employers to provide 24-hour written notice of COVID-19 exposure in the workplace.
Managing contact tracing data is time-consuming, costly and prone to error, which businesses cannot afford as they climb back into profitability. Convergence connects IT, HR and Physical Se- curity, an absolute necessity as businesses work to deliver accu- rate and fast data-driven risk response so companies can return to facilities with confidence.
WORKFORCE IMMUNIZATION DATA
As vaccine distribution for COVID-19 ramps up with millions of inoculations planned, organizations need to gain accurate, real- time insights into the immunization status of their workforce.
Identity governance software centralizes and correlates im- munization data with workforce identities and access, providing organizations insights and controls needed to meet stringent poli- cies and compliance related to workplace health and safety.
Identity Access Management–based software takes on the heavy lifting of proactive policy enforcement, automating and streamlining the logistics based on immunization results. It en- ables employees and contingent workers to upload vaccination documents through the secure self-service web portal or mobile app, while the platform’s integration framework also provides the ability to securely connect to third party healthcare and vaccina- tion applications for documentation upload.
Businesses will gain a full view of vaccination among the workforce population with analytics and dashboards, and auto- mate physical security controls to deliver frictionless access to the workplace according to COVID-19 vaccination re-entry policies.
In the most common scenario, an employee, contractor or visi- tor will participate in offsite, remote self-attestation procedures via the smartphone and mobile app or another connected device. Au- tomated email and text notification with self-service link capabili- ties are generated to remote workforce. Users provide information and documentation on their current vaccination or other health and well-being status, such as a completed follow up appointment with medical staff following a positive COVID-19 test, including health clearance documentation necessary to enter the premises. All information is centralized on the user profile for easy access, correlating to their permissions for access around the facility.
Here is what’s possible with converged identity access as com- panies get back to business:
• Robust analytics and tracking across the entire enterprise – at a
global, regional and individual facility level.
• Employee self-attestation and vaccination record upload
through mobile app and online portal, HR/Admin review with
lobby screening and badge access management.
• Health and safety self-service for pre-screening, temperature check of workforce during site entry with policy enforcements
and access governance.
• Vaccination dashboards provide critical analytics and insights
of vaccination status across the entire organization. Health and Safety analytics track cases of exposed individuals and iden- tify exposed employees by criticality as well as exposed areas for lockdown or sanitization. Software integrations provide an intuitive dashboard with data on potentially infected employ- ees and real-time information on person-to-person proximity records.
• Contact tracing, social distancing and quarantine dashboards, and location heat maps with COVID-19 positive and exposed cases and other actionable health and safety analytics for safer surroundings and increased situational intelligence. Proximity records for mobile devices in the workplace find close contacts and potentially contain outbreaks before they escalate.
• The ability to control spaces remotely creates a safe, hygienic workplace that instills confidence in employees, tenants, and vis- itors by limiting access to specific areas when too many people are in one space.
OTHER CRITICAL PIECES
There are other facets as we navigate this new normal of doing business, including the effect the process has on security for verti- cal markets and users involved in the manufacturing, transporta- tion and distribution of the vaccine.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) created documentation in the COVID-19 Physical Security li- brary that “encourages organizations involved in the distribution process to assess potential security vulnerabilities and implement corresponding risk mitigation solutions to reduce the probability of disruptions.”
The agency cites potential disruptions by anti-vaccination protesters, insiders, criminals or organized crime or terrorists. An infographic, COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Physical Security Measures, illustrates four stages of vaccination distribution ac- tivity and possible physical threats at these stages and potential mitigations.
CISA also created the COVID-19 Vaccine Points of Distribu- tion Physical Security Action Guide. This document provides a list of potential resources available to the public to help satellite organizers and operators enhance their Physical Security to pro- tect workers and individuals.
LEVERAGING INTELLIGENCE
FOR A SAFER FUTURE OF WORK
Technology has been put to the test. The Digital Transforma- tion and Security Convergence have stepped up to COVID-19, with greater identity intelligence for the user and the ability to effectively converge and aggregate platforms, delivering proactive threat detection and prevention – including in the areas of pan- demics and health and safety concerns.
Vaccination management as part of Health and Safety access governance and intelligence supports company return-to-work playbooks, preparing the enterprise for a final, successful push against CO- VID-19 and the protection of workers.
Willem Ryan is the vice president of marketing and communications at AlertEnterprise Inc.
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JULY/AUGUST 2021 | SECURITY TODAY
THE FINAL PUSH