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Building management is one of the top concerns of property managers and building owners looking to increase business security. Multiple interior and exterior doors, the presence of restricted or sensitive areas and heavy traffic all contribute to increased security issues. Access control security systems can help solve many of these issues and minimise unauthorised entry.
In this article, we'll examine the different access control technologies available to government and businesses, and then we'll take a closer look at how they can help you increase your building security (and save you money, too).
Part I: What Technology can an Access Control System be Comprised of?
Some building managers may think of access control security systems as complicated, expensive electronic networks that are difficult to implement. In reality, they can be tailored to fit many different building sizes, occupancy types, and budgets.
An access control security system allows building management professionals to do more than just control admission to restricted areas. It also keeps electronic records of entries and exits into those areas. Such records help building managers gauge traffic and identify who used a door at any given time. This makes it much easier to answer important security questions such as, "Who was in the building when that incident happened?" and so on.
What access control method is best for you depends on your specific business security needs. Four such methods are detailed below.
Access Control Method #1: Keyless Entry Swipe Cards
These cards bear magnetic strips which contain information about the cardholder. A card reader scans the stripe and allows or denies entry accordingly. The cards are relatively inexpensive, and each user can be given a different unique ID for entrance and exit tracking.
Access Control Method #2: Biometric Scanners
This type of system requires the user to input some type of biological information, in addition to or instead of an access card. The most common types are retinal (eye) and fingerprint scanners. Palmprint scanners or voice activation systems can also be used.
This kind of access control system is more secure than swipe cards - sounds silly to say, but it's quite difficult to forge an eyeball or a hand. The technology for these devices has been advancing and is becoming cheaper to make and install.
Access Control Method #3: Keypad Systems
Users enter an assigned code into a keypad in order to obtain entry into a building or area. Electronic keypads are hard to tamper with, and are reprogrammable in the event that a code needs to be changed. Unique access codes can be given to each user to track entries.
Access Control Method #4: "Smart Cards" or Proxy Card Readers (Proximity Cards)
These are similar to swipe cards, except that the user's information is contained in a microchip rather than a magnetic stripe. These tend to be more secure and less prone to damage than magnetic keyless entry cards.
Both swipe cards and proxy cards have the additional advantage of being able to display a photo and written security credentials, facilitating the work of live security guards to verify identity.
Access Control System Design
An access control security system has several major components. At its core, there is a computerised control centre and a log of each person who is granted access to the building or its parts.
The control centre is linked to entry points throughout the building. These points can include not only doors, but also elevators, turnstiles, parking gates and other barriers. There's no fixed limit to the number of points which can be monitored in this manner.
Here is how the security link works: Barriers at the entry points are outfitted with electronic scanners which serve to verify information entered by the user.
When Information is entered into the scanner (either by swiping an access card or inputting biological information, etc), the reader then relays the information to the control centre. The computer verifies security credentials and grants or denies entry accordingly, with a note in its logs that it did so.
Part II: 5 Reasons Access Control Can Increase Business Security and Government Security
Both governments and mid to large-sized buildings & businesses can benefit greatly from using access control security systems. The five biggest benefits include:
1) Reduced Cost Due to Less Security Guards Needed and Easier Lock Changing
It may be cost prohibitive in large buildings to have security guards monitor every crucial point of entry. From this viewpoint, access control security systems may pay for themselves within a few years or less, while still maintaining security.
Another important aspect of cost reduction for government or business security involves the use of smart cards. Using a swipe card or a proxy card negates the need to change the locks if a key card gets lost, stolen, or is not returned by a dismissed employee. Simply delete that one card from the system and access is prevented, while access for other users is uninterrupted.
Say the unfortunate happens - you run a few warehouses, and have a low level manager who turns out to be a bad hire. He runs off and quits one day without returning his building keys. Now you have to change all the locks... an expensive fix, but it has to be done or you leave yourself open to theft, or perhaps worse.
Compare this to the situation where an electronic access control system was installed. If all he absconded with was a keycard, take 5 minutes and delete his access credentials from the system, forever after denying him access - no locksmith needed. That's real money saved.
2) Ability to Maintain Both Public and "Employees Only" Areas Simultaneously
Many buildings see a mix of daily traffic between public visitors and staff. With access control installed, public visitors are still able to enter, but can be kept from getting past restricted points. Non-staff don't have to feel intimidated by elaborate, overbearing business security systems, and building managers don't have to worry about visitors gaining access to restricted areas.
3) Ability to Record Entries and Exits
Governments and some businesses often need to keep records of who comes and goes. Access control security systems allow them to do so in a manner that is efficient and easily interpreted.
4) Ability to Protect Sensitive Areas
Access control systems allow the user to set various levels of security access. After assigning a keyless entry card to every person who works in a particular building, specific security clearances can then be granted to each cardholder.
For example, one cardholder may be given access only to exterior doorways. Another cardholder can be granted access to both exterior doors plus some or all interior barriers. This allows for building employees to come and go with ease but keeps sensitive areas protected.
Certain situations can also be simpler to handle when access control is installed. In the event of a major security problem, electronic access control facilitates a security lockdown (or security lockout), preventing all access except by those granted high-level clearance. This helps keep the problem contained in the building (or keeps it off the premises).
5) Ensuring Employee Honesty
The true cost of employee dishonesty is difficult to estimate after a breach in business security, which these days is unfortunately much too common. With access control systems implemented in their areas, executives responsible for building management don't have to constantly wonder about employees gaining access to unauthorised areas. This peace of mind, for some execs, may have a monetary value much higher than the cost of the system!
In Conclusion
Access control security systems are relatively simple to monitor and maintain. Properly installed, they are difficult to tamper with and override, creating peace of mind for building managers and tenants. If you're in the business of building management and site security, access control can be a very appropriate option to satisfy your security needs.
Click here today to book a Sydney Access Control Installation.
Mark Pendergast is the Owner of Citiguard Protection Services, a family-owned Sydney Security Company est. 1966. He is a 25-yr veteran of the Australian security industry and lives in Sydney with his wife and children.
Visit the Citiguard Security bLogbook for more articles.
"The world is changing around us at an incredible pace due to remarkable technological change. This process can either overwhelm us, or make our lives better and our country stronger. What we can't do is pretend it is not happening." Prime Minister Tony Blair on commissioning the Transformational Government strategy.
To survive in this era of accelerating technological change, and to implement the edicts of the Transformational Government strategy, every public sector organisation will have to undergo fundamental technology-enabled change. This article provides a five-point check list for senior managers responsible for developing and delivering a successful Transformational Government change programme.
Ensuring that an organisation can satisfy the necessary information security requirements to enable it to be a component part of joined-up government, requires consideration that will inform budget and strategy, reshape organisational process and procedures, and redefine culture and working practices.
As a guide to those responsible for their organisation's information assurance and implementation of the Transformation Government agenda, this article provides a five-point check list to provide a basis for ICT-enabled organisational change.
Point 1 - Be fully appraised of current Government policy and strategy
Current UK Government policy and strategy is leading public service organisations through a significant period of change to achieve efficiency gains through streamlined citizen-centric, ICT-enabled, secure shared services.
Understanding current UK Government policy and strategy will assist you in:
Understanding measures you should take to deliver ICT enabled business changeIdentifying expected business benefits
Identifying costs
Identifying scope of change
Identifying risks.
A list of the key sources of UK Government policy and strategy can be found in the thought leadership section of the VEGA website.
Point 2 - Ensure board level buy-in and understanding
A board level information assurance champion should be appointed to act as Senior Information Risk Owner (SIRO) for your organisation. This recommendation meets mandatory requirement 3 from the HMG Security Policy Framework (SPF) V1.0.
Your SIRO should agree to terms of reference which clearly define their role and responsibilities with regard to the information assurance of your organisation. Additionally, your SIRO should meet regularly with your organisation's security staff to discuss security policy and discuss a risk managed approach to information assurance. This ensures that information assurance and governance is a recognised board level responsibility which includes the protection and utilisation of all of your organisation's assets (information, personnel and physical).
Point 3 - Manage your stakeholders
Obtaining stakeholder buy-in to your organisation's information assurance strategy is critical to its success. Good stakeholder management creates awareness, provides the framework for supporting delivery and assists you secure budget where resource is scarce and competition is fierce.
A communications plan should therefore be developed to identify:
Desired buy-in outcomesAudience of stakeholders (internal and external)
How to best engage stakeholders
How messages are to be communicated
Ownership of responsibility for maintaining communications
Frequency of communications.
Stakeholders should subsequently be plotted on a stakeholder map prioritised by power and interest. This will assist you in grouping them. Your communications strategy can then focus on key stakeholders whilst ensuring other stakeholders are engaged to the level required.
Failure to gain buy-in from key stakeholders has sealed the fate of many information assurance projects.
Point 4 - Involve the experts
When pursuing an information assurance strategy, you should seek advice from recognised Government and industry experts. These organisations have faced the same challenges as you and have valuable information and knowledge to share. This will save you time and money, whilst ensuring that the information assurance solutions you plan to implement are fit for purpose and proven across Government.
The organisations you may wish to contact include:
Office Government and Commerce Buying Solutions (OGCBS)Communications-Electronics Security Group (CESG)
Government Computer Emergency Response Team (GOVCERT)
Central Sponsor for Information Assurance (CSIA)
Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI)
Warning, Advice and Reporting Point (WARP)
Information Commissioners Office (ICO)
Public sector organisations similar to your own
Consultancies with expertise in enabling Transformational Government change programmes
Point 5 - Achieving and evidencing compliance
Recent data losses across Government have placed an increased focus on information assurance. Public sector organisations must comply with centrally released security policy (e.g. HMG SPF) which defines mandatory minimum security measures.
To connect to a secure network, your organisation must comply with mandatory security controls. Depending on the security impact level of the secure network, your organisation will either have to complete a Code of Connection (CoCo) or produce a Risk Management and Accreditation Document Set (RMADS).
To answer the requirements of a CoCo you should treat each control like an exam question (answer the question with relevant evidence), and sell your strengths, if you comply with standards such as ISO/IEC27001:2005 or PCI DSS.
The completion of a RMADS is much more involved. Unless your organisation has significant experience, you should involve a CESG Listed Advisor from the CESG Listed Advisor Scheme (CLAS).
Connection to a secure network will only be permitted once the relevant governing security authority is content that your organisation meets the information assurance requirements of the network you wish to connect to. This ensures that the risk your organisation poses to other organisations on the network is managed.
Once your organisation's connection is authorised, you should expect regular audits which ensure the level of information assurance your organisation has achieved is maintained and improved.
These five points will hopefully act as an aide memoiré when your organisation starts to consider its connection to a secure government network. The most important thing to understand is that information security is not just about technology; it is the catalyst for organisational change that encompasses people, training, policy and procedures.
VEGA is a member of the CESG Listed Advisor Scheme (CLAS), as well as a registered CHECK service provider. VEGA has an established track record of working across Government providing strategic advice and technological expertise to help secure public sector information through the implementation and use of secure Government networks.
By Damian Schogger, Communications Manager, VEGA
About VEGA VEGA is a professional services company that delivers technology-enabled change in complex environments, often where security and resilience are key. We have an in-depth knowledge and experience to support organisaitions planning to gain connnection to secure government networks, gained from working on several major UK government projects in this area.
Please contact us for further information. Connecting to Secure Government Networks
Government IT jobs are some of the best positions you can ever hope to find in the labor market. Here we discuss the benefits and tips on how you can find these much sort after jobs.
Benefits of Working for the Government are numerous and I mention some here.
• Their Heath Insurance Program is Superb:
Their health insurance scheme is nationally recognized and respected because it offers you choice and flexibility. This comes along with major employer contribution to premiums. You have an option to pay your share of premiums as well as your out-of-pocket costs with pre-tax dollars.
• A very Generous Leave Policy:
A government job provides ample time to take care of your personal business than any other employer. Depending on the number of years you've worked for government you could get up to 60 days off in one year.
• Excellent Employee Welfare Schemes:
A government job offers you a range of family friendly flexibilities such as child care and elder care resources, flexible work schedules, child support, adoption information and incentives programs amongst many others.
Here are some tips to help you get government IT Jobs.
• The Region is a Crucial Factor:
The easy at which you get a government job is determined by location and concentration of agencies. Areas with more government agencies and employees will have the most jobs. In USA California, Texas, the District of Columbia, Virginia and New York will have the lion share of federal jobs.
• The Size of the Agency Counts:
The Department of Defense will employ more people than many other government agencies put together. Therefore, the bigger the agency the more job entry points it has. Other big employers in government include the Treasury Department and Homeland Security.
• Critical Occupational Areas:
Safety is the number one national concern. The government has to ensure citizenry safety first before any other priority. That is why Pharmacologists at the Food and Drug Administration are critical to ensuring the safety of drugs and medical supplies ahead of such agencies like Federal Trade Commission.
• IT Jobs in Government:
Everything now revolves around modern computer technology. Information Technology is becoming more important in government operations and this makes openings in this field highly lucrative. If you are an expert in IT security then your services are in high demand in government agencies dealing in; security, safety, financial fraud prevention, cyber crime, etc.
• The Peace Corps Connection:
Another way to find government IT jobs is to join the Peace Corps. It is no secret that many former volunteers have gone to respectable positions in government.
• Website Searches:
Another method you may use to find government IT jobs is to search online. On the internet you well find highly specialized websites dealing in genuine job search and placement including government jobs for US citizens.
For more information on this topic and especially jobs in IT Security you may want to visit his website now.
Steve wanjie is a blogger, expert article writer and marketer.
Website: http://www.jobsforuscitizens.com/browse/all/Information%20Technology/all
Government IT jobs are some of the best positions you can ever hope to find in the labor market. Here we discuss the benefits and tips on how you can find these much sort after jobs.
Benefits of Working for the Government are numerous and I mention some here.
• Their Heath Insurance Program is Superb:
Their health insurance scheme is nationally recognized and respected because it offers you choice and flexibility. This comes along with major employer contribution to premiums. You have an option to pay your share of premiums as well as your out-of-pocket costs with pre-tax dollars.
• A very Generous Leave Policy:
A government job provides ample time to take care of your personal business than any other employer. Depending on the number of years you've worked for government you could get up to 60 days off in one year.
• Excellent Employee Welfare Schemes:
A government job offers you a range of family friendly flexibilities such as child care and elder care resources, flexible work schedules, child support, adoption information and incentives programs amongst many others.
Here are some tips to help you get government IT Jobs.
• The Region is a Crucial Factor:
The easy at which you get a government job is determined by location and concentration of agencies. Areas with more government agencies and employees will have the most jobs. In USA California, Texas, the District of Columbia, Virginia and New York will have the lion share of federal jobs.
• The Size of the Agency Counts:
The Department of Defense will employ more people than many other government agencies put together. Therefore, the bigger the agency the more job entry points it has. Other big employers in government include the Treasury Department and Homeland Security.
• Critical Occupational Areas:
Safety is the number one national concern. The government has to ensure citizenry safety first before any other priority. That is why Pharmacologists at the Food and Drug Administration are critical to ensuring the safety of drugs and medical supplies ahead of such agencies like Federal Trade Commission.
• IT Jobs in Government:
Everything now revolves around modern computer technology. Information Technology is becoming more important in government operations and this makes openings in this field highly lucrative. If you are an expert in IT security then your services are in high demand in government agencies dealing in; security, safety, financial fraud prevention, cyber crime, etc.
• The Peace Corps Connection:
Another way to find government IT jobs is to join the Peace Corps. It is no secret that many former volunteers have gone to respectable positions in government.
• Website Searches:
Another method you may use to find government IT jobs is to search online. On the internet you well find highly specialized websites dealing in genuine job search and placement including government jobs for US citizens.
For more information on this topic and especially jobs in IT Security you may want to visit his website now.
Steve wanjie is a blogger, expert article writer and marketer.
Website: http://www.jobsforuscitizens.com/browse/all/Information%20Technology/all
