SecurityWorldMarket

19/05/2022

Access Control Systems – Part 2 of 3

"Access control of vehicles and people must be secured"

With Specter Nano, access control systems can thus apply a so-called “two-man rule”, ie access is only granted if both the vehicle and the driver are authorised.

With Specter Nano, access control systems can thus apply a so-called “two-man rule”, ie access is only granted if both the vehicle and the driver are authorised.

When we talk about electronic perimeter surveillance, we often think of fences, alarm systems, radar and cameras, including thermal cameras. Secure access control at the entry and exit points is rarely discussed. It is taken for granted.

“The quality of the authorisation check of vehicles with drivers is very variable. Sometimes it is secured, but then often inflexible. If it is flexible, it is usually based on one-factor authentication,” states Robert Jansson at Stid Security who sees the solution in a new multi-technology reader.

In any perimeter protection area, there is always one or more gate for entry and exit. Perhaps there are staff present in connection with these gates to control people and vehicles, or there is a remote operator who checks the authorisation and decides whether the person or the vehicle / driver should have access.

But what is controlled and how is it controlled? This is the crucial issue that Stid’s sales manager for the Nordic and the Eastern Europe, Robert Jansson, is passionate about.

“All perimeter protection aims to steer both vehicles and people to controlled points. And there you have to have control, which vehicles and which people go through it”, he says.

One-factor authentication

Robert Jansson, emphasises how the control of vehicles and drivers can vary.

“There is usually a tag on the vehicle that is detected by a reader to determine if access should be allowed. It only detects the vehicle,” he says.

Robert Jansson points out that the vehicle’s measurable dimensions and registration number can also be identity parameters to ensure that it is the right vehicle, before access is granted.

“But notice, we are talking about ensuring the identity of the vehicle, not the drivers right to access in this case. Too often the driver is excluded from control or both the vehicle and the person behind the wheel have a UHF badge, which means that both use one-factor authentication.”

Robert Jansson admits that it happens that the driver is forced to leave the vehicle to go to a reader, swipe his card and enter his PIN code, which is two-factor authentication.

“But then they have departed from the very purpose of longdistance reading, namely that the transports should be agile,” he says.

Two-factor authentication

But it is actually possible to use two-factor authentication without the driver having to step out of the car.

“If you use virtual cards via the mobile phone, you can have both one-factor and two-factor authentication in the hand of the driver. Then you can ensure that the person is the authorised driver and shall be admitted access. It is not someone else’s ID carrier that they use. That is important,” comments Robert Jansson.

Two-factor authentication means that the driver’s mobile is detected, but only when the PIN code alternatively fingerprint or face reading have opened the mobile phone, the signature of the virtual card is sent to the reader. Thus, no unauthorised person can use the ID carrier and gain passage into the area.

Safe and flexible vehicle passage

As sales manager for Stid in northern and central Europe, it is easy for Robert Jansson to propagate for two-factor authentication and smooth access control for vehicles and drivers. With the multi-technology reader Specter Nano, Stid has developed a unique solution for reading vehicles and people quickly, smoothly and safely. It detects over long distances and checks the vehicle’s and driver’s identity and right to access simultaneously. The reader can handle several vehicles and people at the same time.

“In addition to reading the mobile’s virtual card for two-factor authentication of people, Specter Nano reads all types of windshield tags, cards, key fobs or other things that have UHF or Blue-tooth, “ says Robert Jansson.

“The reading distances can be adjusted with both Bluetooth and UHF and the fast reading means that the driver hardly needs to slow down, which contributes to user-friendliness without reducing safety,” he adds.

Sets a new standard

Robert Jansson believes that Specter Nano sets a new standard for access control and enables both fast and secure access controls for vehicles and people.

“It’s time, for safe access control of vehicles and people must be given higher priority. Being able to identify the vehicle and the driver simultaneously is important for the access control to work properly. The risk of criminals entering an area via a stolen authorised vehicle is eliminated with this solution,” he says.

“Now you do not have to choose to quickly and safely detect either vehicles or drivers, but you get the best of both worlds. The vehicle approaches the reader and is detected by the encrypted UHF tag and the driver can then already be detected via his virtual card in the phone.”

The only legal way in Norway

With Specter Nano, access control systems can thus apply a so-called “two-man rule”, ie access is only granted if both the vehicle and the driver are authorised. This feature arouses special upheaval in Norway, where there is a law on two-factor authentication if a transaction is to be logged in an access control system.

“If you provide one-factor authentication on a person, only the vehicle can be logged, not the person. Specter Nano is the first solution where you can legally – via one single reader – have a transaction of the drivers and the vehicle in an access control system,” states Robert Jansson finally.

Note: This editorial article has primarily been produced for the security trade magazine Detektor in collaboration with Securityworldmarket.com.



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