Page 85 - Security Today, September/October 2021

“We are also excited about this new option because it provides an added health and safety benefit for students. The contactless payment option will allow students to not touch surfaces or other people, thus helping to prevent exposure to COVID-19 and other viruses when making purchases.”
By Daniel Gundlach
smartphones are always with them, and they are less likely to lose them as compared to their access card. Respondents further pointed out the benefit of using their phone as a backup in cases where their cards were lost or stolen.
At the pilot’s conclusion, the university began purchasing only readers with Blue- tooth technology or later, NFC, so that it could roll out HID Mobile Access beyond faculty and staff to the entire student body. Approximately 90 percent of Vanderbilt’s contactless readers on campus were soon mobile-ready so that, “when we do get to that point, we’re ready to go,” Brown said.
Vanderbilt’s access control platform is CS Gold®, a higher education transaction system
from CBORD for credential lifecycle man- agement that integrates with the university’s HID Global access cards and door readers. HID wrote an application programming interface (API) for Vanderbilt so the CBORD platform could communicate with HID’s lat- est Seos credential technology that is pow- ered by highly advanced encryption and a software-based infrastructure.
It secures trusted identities on any form factor, and can be extended for applications beyond physical access control. Brown said the plan was slowly phased in the Seos tech- nology as it continued issuing cards, until it eventually removed the iCLASS chip from the card. This would enable it to migrate to the latest and most secure card format.
The simplified credential issuance of the mobile access solution began with new users receiving an email on their phone that included a link to the HID Mobile Access app. Once they accepted the invitation and clicked on the link, the credential pushed down to their handset. This process also reduced the time it took the university to issue credentials.
“When it comes to issuing the identities to somebody, what was probably a 10-minute process before could now be done in literally 10 seconds,” Brown said.
Provisioning credentials to contractors or other parties needing temporary access was made simple, and secure with HID Mobile Access than with physical cards, Brown said. It was now possible to pull a credential off a visitor’s or contractor’s phone as soon as nec- essary, so that, as an example, they were not in possession of a credential that they had forgotten to return at the end of their visit.
Elevating the Convenience Factor
Next, the university wanted to add support for credentials in Apple Wallet without com- promising the existing access infrastructure or its security. Using HID Reader Manager the task was completed to upgrade firmware on the university’s physical access control readers to extend support for NFC-based credentials in Apple Wallet. The university uses the flexible HID OrigoTM Mobile Identi- ties API integrated with CS Gold.
With campus IDs in Apple Wallet, stu- dents can complete any action that would
have previously required a physical ID card — both on and off campus — with just their iPhone and Apple Watch. Students simply present their device to a reader to enter dorms, libraries, and fitness centers, buy lunch, make purchases at campus stores, pay for laundry and print documents.
The university’s Commodore campus ID cards on iPhone and Apple Watch provide an extra level of security and privacy, so students do not need to worry about misplacing their physical card when they are enjoying campus life. Transaction history remains private and is never shared with anyone. If a student mis- places their iPhone or Apple Watch, they can use the Find My app to immediately lock their device and help locate it.
Vanderbilt administrators said the univer- sity is working to launch a similar offering through Android devices. HID Mobile Access enables mobile IDs to send via an app to either Android or IoS mobile devices.
This will enable more users to benefit from the ability to not only enter residence halls, campus libraries and other physical locations, but also buy food at campus din- ing locations, make purchases at Barnes & Noble at Vanderbilt, the campus post office, the Student Health Center and the Sarratt Student Center Box Office without needing their physical Commodore Card.
Students can use their phones to purchase food at nearby off-campus locations that are part of the Taste of Nashville program.
In 2014, Vanderbilt University had a vision for creating a safe and secure campus using mobile-enabled technologies. What started as a successful pilot quickly transi- tioned into a full-scale development of mobile access to faculty, staff and the entire student body. Today, the university has achieved its goal of delivering this safe, secure and convenient mobile access solu- tion with the added flexibility of supporting the Apple Wallet platform. With integrated HID Mobile Access, issuing credentials to new users is as easy as having them down- load the app, validate identity and seamlessly add their credentials to Apple Wallet.
Daniel Gundlach is the vice president, Physi- cal Access Control, North America at HID Global.
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