Source: HIDGlobal.com
Changes are taking place in the access control industry as enterprises across all industries are deploying new products aimed at improving productivity while increasing security.
Reflecting on this year and looking ahead to 2012, I have compiled the top ten issues that I believe are essential to understanding how individuals and businesses will use access control products moving forward. These trends include: (read whole article)
Sometimes ID badges aren’t enough. You want employees and patrons alike to be able to quickly identify the people in your facility without having to be up close and personal. If this is an issue that needs solving in your place of work, Badge Buddies may be the answer to your concerns. These custom id badge accessories hang behind your employee’s id badges and can designate their role at your workplace. Badge buddies make it easy to identify nurses, doctors, teachers, janitors, and support staff to name just a few.
NFC is the future of Access Control!
Why carry an Access Control Card to open your office or room door when you are carrying a phone? Contact us to learn more about how NFC can work in your business.
Want to Join Our Mailing List? Click the Above Image.
If you find a legitimate offer on the same Secure Access product that we carry, Badge Express will meet or beat that price. Simply get in touch with a member of the Badge Express team and we will begin a review of the competitor’s quote, shipping costs, and product availability. Once we determine the legitimacy of the competitor’s offer, we will happily match prices on Access Cards, Employee ID cards, and more.
Here’s a pretty cool way that RFID is being used to give new moms and dads some peace of mind. Check it out…
Source: HealthIDNews.com
The Basque National Health System has launched a neonatal security system designed to monitor and protect new-born infants using RFID technology.
When a pregnant woman is admitted to hospital, she is provided a tag with a unique identification which can be read in all the maternity zones. When the baby is born, an RFID tag specially designed for the new born is fitted to its ankle. The device monitors the infant 24 hours a day, detecting unauthorized movements, registering entries and exits to and from and enabling immediate location information. (read more)
Check out this New Limited Edition ID Card Printer from Datacard!
Source: HealthIDNews.com
To support the fight against breast cancer, Datacard Group, a secure ID and card personalization solution provider, is introducing a limited edition pink Datacard SD260 Card Printer.
The pink printer will be available for purchase from October 2011 to March 2012 as supplies last. Datacard will donate a portion of the proceeds from each printer sold to the Pink Ribbon Foundation. This foundation funds projects and supports charities around the world that help people who suffer from or are affected by breast cancer. (read more)
Source: SecureIdNews.com
Begining in fiscal year 2012, U.S. government agencies must upgrade their physical and logical access control systems to provide federal employees and contractors with more secure and reliable forms of identification using Personal Identity Verification (PIV) credentials.
These credentials must leverage smart card and biometric technology in accordance with National Institute of Standards and Technology guidelines embodied in FIPS 201. These upgrades must be completed before federal agencies may use development and technology refresh funds to complete other activities. (read more)
If plastic id cards are in contrast to your green workforce program, you now have a choice you may not have known about before. According to recent survey of 100 companies, all signs are, green workforce programs are on the rise. 10 percent to be exact, from 2009 to 2010. In the ID world, plastic id cards are a big commodity. They are the most commonly ordered (re-ordered) piece if an access control system. However, more and more eco-savvy companies are shopping around for the lowest prices on a new alternative to plastic id cards, Eco-Friendly ID cards.
These new eco friendly id cards are made from a type of corn that people don’t eat (although I guess you could) – and when disposed of properly, break down 100% without releasing harmful to the environment, toxins. Companies who have been using plastic id cards are quickly put at ease to know there is no new equipment to purchase in order to use the earth friendly alternative.
The only difference, is unlike plastic id cards, eco cards give companies who wish to integrate a green workforce program into their office, a perfect way to do so with id cards and access control. To learn more about the cards:
http://www.contactlessnews.com/2008/05/21/advantidge-offers-new-id-cards-with-plastic-alternative
Or you can call me @ the number on the top of this page and I’ll be happy to help you too, take steps towards a greener workforce everyone can feel great about!
- George
We have become so inured to the changes that have taken place since 9/11, that these days we barely blink an eye at current security measures. We take off our shoes and belts, and dispose of liquids in our carry-ons. We don’t question the requirement to keep our luggage in eye view at all times. And we would never leave a box or briefcase unattended. Understandably, airlines have stepped up their game where your security is concerned in a post 9/11 world. Airports are safer… But what about your seaports?
Seaports are massive, open and unwieldy. Unlike airports, where ramps and terminal access can be strictly monitored, seaports on-load and off-load tons of cargo and millions of passengers yearly. Trucks, cargo containers and cruise ships come and go every day. The State of Florida has 14 deep-water seaports, from the Port of Pensacola to Port Canaveral and down to the Port of Key West. and http://www.dot.state.fl.us/seaport/seamap.shtm. And in the ten years since the tragic events of 9/11, seaports and the federal government have banded together to fortify port facilities against attack.
In a recent article {http://www.newsherald.com/articles/new-96752-panama-reality.html#ixzz1ZLfVBDrB}, Port Panama City Executive Director Wayne Stubbs said the port has been ahead of the game as far as new security regulations are concerned. Piggy backing on steps already taken to battle the drug trade, the port also has implemented Transportation Worker Identification Credentials (TWIC) for all its employees.
“Everyone on the base must have a TWIC card,” Stubbs said. “If they don’t have a card, they must be escorted by someone who has a card.”
And while advanced technology is playing a role in port security, for example, Port Everglades is reportedly looking {http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-09-10/news/fl-seaport-security-20110910_1_port-security-ellen-kennedy-port-everglades} into upgrading its radiation monitors for monitoring cargo, and are also considering installing so-called “smart” video cameras to monitor all docks, warehouses, and remote premises, authorities still put their faith in the human element. Port managers in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Riviera Beach all agree that detailed, human focused procedures such as hands on scrutiny of cargo manifests and requiring all workers to wear ID badges must remain in place.
Metal detectors. Baggage Screening. Bomb sniffing dogs. They all have their place, sadly, in our new world. But nothing beats a real human being – security cleared and wearing easily identifiable badge identification. As Manuel Almira, executive director of the Port of Palm Beach said “We need individuals who will see something that happened at three in the morning and understand what it means. A camera cannot do that….we must continue to be vigilant – but practical.”
Example of a smartcard and reader
Perhaps the great Irish writer Oscar Wilde said it best: “It is always with the best intentions that the worst work is done.”
And it seems that civic leaders in Oakland, California, are facing the same dilemma. Two years ago, they started work on a project that was paved with good intentions - the creation of a multipurpose, smartcard form of identification to serve several marginalized local populations. It seems that developers may have to rethink their plans, and it comes down to the failure of something that innovators have struggled with for hundreds of years. They failed to keep it simple.
The integrated ID card was originally conceived as a way to provide undocumented workers with a form of identification, give transgender citizens a method for proving their identity without confirming a specific gender and create a debit card alternative for the city’s poorest populations. But as more and more features were added, the complexity of the technology became overwhelming.
Now the debit card capabilities – the main source of revenue for financing the program for the city – may have to be eliminated for the program to move forward, and officials are proposing charging cardholders for the initial purchase. The issue is still under debate in city council, but it has recently moved forward with the possibility of retaining limited local currency functions.
Hardly a leg up for the city’s poorest populations, and far from the original dream, however there are some areas of the ID related industry where the story ends on a more positive note. The Philadelphia-based Albert Einstein Healthcare Network recently announced it has completed a comprehensive upgrade of its employee identification system. More than 7,000 workers and about 50 off-site primary care physician and surgical center locations replaced existing swipe card readers with new contact-less readers and smart plastic cards, allowing the Albert Einstein Healthcare Network to easily and efficiently build a path towards more secure access control and multi-application card flexibility. Smartcards have been utilized in hospitals worldwide for a range of purposes, and a recent study has even suggested that smartcards can play a central role in ensuring “meaningful use” of electronic health records (http://www.smartcardalliance.org/articles/2011/02/22/smart-cards-aid-in-achieving-meaningful-use-of-electronic-health-records-according-to-new-smart-card-alliance-white-paper).
Take a page from Oscar Wilde’s book. Better security options, ease of performance and increased efficiencies in record keeping should be what every enterprise – or city – should be looking for.
If you’re above the age of four, and are an American citizen, it’s pretty certain that you can quickly state the official motto of the United States. “In God We Trust” was adopted as the country’s official motto in 1956. The phrase has appeared on U.S. coins since 1864 and on paper currency since 1957. Interestingly enough, it is also the motto of the U.S. state of Florida.
Why is that interesting, you ask? Because in March, the Florida Senate Committee on Governmental Oversight and Accountability approved an amendment to include “electronic authentication,” as well as “biometrics” to Florida Driver’s licenses.
The Florida Senate might trust God, but we’re not sure they trust you!
National Identity
There is no true national identity card for American citizens and all legislative attempts to create one have failed due to fierce opposition from liberal and conservative politicians alike, who regard the very concept as the mark of a totalitarian society.
But effectively, this amendment has turned the individual states’ drivers’ licenses into a national ID card. If it becomes law and is implemented, it would give federal, state and local government agencies the ability to easily and stealthily track all Floridians without warrant, in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Riding on the heels of the The Obama Administration’s push for what many are calling “the Internet driver’s license” – essentially a single, unique authentication key for Internet users to help them securely access Internet retailers or financial services without having to remember multiple passwords thereby reducing online fraud, this new amendment lays the groundwork for radio frequency identification (RFID) chips to be implanted into drivers’ licenses. In much the same way that merchandise in a warehouse includes RFID tags to track items through the distribution process, RFID tags on drivers’ licenses would give authorities an additional tool to track anyone carrying a drivers’ license within the reception range of an RFID reader.
The Real ID Act
Creepy? Perhaps. But The Real ID Act of 2005, implemented in Florida on January 1, 2010, has already integrated the more expansive personal data set collected by drivers’ license issuing agencies into a national database, data like scans of birth certificates, social security cards, marriage licenses, and other documents. Biometrics in the form of computer facial recognition data, collected at the time one’s DHSMV photo is taken, is also used. Sheriffs’ departments in at least 22 Florida counties tap into the database as part of their facial recognition system, or FRnet, and feed real-time images from video cameras to instantly identify anyone whose face is in these cameras’ field of view.
But take heart Floridians. You’re not alone. Vermont has recently become the third state to begin issuing enhanced drivers licenses with radio frequency tags that also serve as official identification cards at U.S. border crossing points. It did so under a program authorized by the Homeland Security Department. The enhanced drivers licenses also have embedded radio frequency identification (RFID) chips that can be scanned at a distance of 20 to 30 feet at U.S. border crossings. The RFID chips in the licenses emit a reference number that must be checked against a DHS database to obtain personal information (http://www2.ministries-online.org/biometrics/rfidchip.html)
Opting Out
But if you’re thinking about opting out of getting a driver’s license altogether to avoid these intrusions into your personal privacy, not to mention the additional government tracking capabilities, think again. The Real ID Act already specifies that beginning in 2013, Americans must have a Real ID compliant driver’s license or identification card in order to access government services or buildings. This includes the ability to pass through a TSA checkpoint at the airport or enter a federal courthouse.
And therein lies the rub. You might be able to walk to the corner store for a container of milk, but you probably won’t want to walk to Wisconsin to visit your dear old Ma.
Badge Express, Inc | 5763 N. Andrews Way | Fort Lauderdale , FL 33309 | USA
