January 2004 Mfg.Trust

Mfg.Trust is a monthly feature of the
            NCMS InfraGard Manufacturing Industry Association
                        Infrastructure assurance for manufacturers
                                    Powered by NCMS.

This month – Event Credentialing
…can Access Control Systems Flexibly Respond to Change?

Editor's Preface:

This month’s article focuses on the possibility of flexing the capabilities of an access control system to respond to emergencies. The registration process is days long for many employers. After being recognized by HR, the ‘newbie’ marches over to the registrar who checks credentials, creates database entries, and issues badges, perhaps with RFID, magnetic stripe, or other tokens attached.

How flexible can this system become? Can we respond to changes in security conditions? If we had a disaster that created an immediate need to permit or exclude certain groups, or to add outside persons, must we abandon our base system?

To examine the issue, read on. We are indebted to Lowry Computer Products, Inc., which supplied background material for this article. As always, our Resources Section at http://trust.ncms.org contains a rich set of links for further reading.

Editor

CAN ACCESS CONTROL SYSTEMS FLEXIBLY RESPOND TO CHANGE?

Overview

The characteristics that make our present access control systems trustworthy also tend to make them monolithic and inflexible. Systems are supposed to require controls to accept changes. Rights management for thousands of workers is a full-time job.

It would be useful to have a credentialing system that can respond to change well. Such a system might flexibly support security policy by requiring additional authentication factors only for access at certain times and/or to certain places (e.g.: the new product design special project, the plant control room, important negotiations, or the disaster site).

Stated in high level terms, the ability to flex security policy to meet change is a powerful tool with great promise of effectiveness and cost control. These tools are becoming available. This article reviews briefly what the characteristics of a good solution would look like. The Resources Pages provide pointers to more in-depth study.

Desired Characteristics

Here is a summary of our views on the desired characteristics of a flexible solution. This is not a brief topic. The Resource Pages provide links to a more appropriate and detailed description of this part of the solution set.

* Positive identification – That is the central purpose of the system
* Redundant confirmations of identity – This is usually accomplished with an external confirmation (database lookup) of identity that complements the ID card with bar code that the individual presents.
* Forgery very difficult – Biometrics can be difficult to alter.
* Cannot be repudiated – If the system identifies you, you were there.
* Can quickly associate rights with an identity - This association is just as time sensitive as the identification process.
* Rights are known at all locations
* Rights can be quickly changed at all locations
* Minimal training required for most personnel
* Can be quickly and widely deployed
* Convenient to use
* Solid, reliable technology
* Speed of response
* Mobility of guards
* Identity management of large groups
* No single point of failure

Finally, and importantly, such a system is far more useful if it does not perturb the investment in the existing base access control system.

An Example Solution

A sample solution that exhibits the characteristics above could provide guards controlling access to a facility or part of a facility with a hand-held access control tool. The system consists of a wireless hand-held device, biometric unit, and bar-coded ID card. The guard uses the hand held device to read a bar code on a picture ID presented by the individual. The system wirelessly taps into a computer database and retrieves a cardholder's photo, fingerprint and pertinent data to cross check authenticity. The picture ID may be the base corporate ID system, or an ad hoc system for responding to an event, or both. It is easy to add a bar code to an existing badge.

The bar code itself is not a high security feature. The bar code scan causes the database to respond with an independently delivered picture of the individual and their access rights. The hand held device also has a fingerprint scanner that may or may not be used, depending on the situation and place.

Importantly, this system complements human capabilities well. People recognize faces far better than machines. Yet, maintaining alertness and checking facts against a database are tasks better left to a machine. In some cultures, guards may be reluctant to deny access to apparently high-ranking persons. The tool provides a way to make the decision impersonal.
 

Security Policies

The most important part of any security system is the set of policies that it implements. The tools described above are simply aids in enforcing policy. Some of the important policy decisions are listed below. Many of these issues will have been settled with establishment of the baseline access control system.

* What information is required to be known about each individual registered with the system?
* When will biometric (fingerprint) verification of identity be requested? Always? Only on suspicion? Never? Other?
* Who can be a registrar? The effectiveness of the system is only as good as the registrars are trustworthy.
* What is sufficient proof of identity? The registrar must be absolutely convinced that they are registering the right person.
* What is sufficient claim to right of access? The system must assure the registrar that the registrant has the rights they claim. Policy makers must decide what documentation is necessary and sufficient for this purpose.
* Maintenance and disaster recovery plans. Policy makers must establish plans to maintain the system and to recover it should disaster strike.

Conclusion

Interestingly, the underlying technologies that can make access control more flexible are some of the same technologies (biometrics and wireless networks) that we scrutinized in previous Mfg.Trust articles. These technologies are maturing. They are being applied in a way that emphasizes their strengths over their shortcomings.

The powerful promise of flexible security policy implementation makes these new advances worth examining. Please take a moment to review the Resources Page. You will find more detail there.
 

LINKS

http://trust.ncms.org, select ‘Publications Index’ tab to find:
July 2003 Mfg.Trust – Expecting the Unexpected. Business Continuity in an Uncertain World
October 2002 Mfg.Trust - Biometrics and Your Privacy
September 2002 Mfg.Trust - Biometrics (Business Uses)

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