Issue link: https://securitytechnologyexecutive.epubxp.com/i/956571
38 SECURIT Y TECHNOLOGY E XECUTIVE • Februar y/March 2018 • www. SecurityInfoWatch.com ACCESS CONTROL since the launch of the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch in 2014, however; card emulation – the NFC mode most coveted for mobile access control and cur- rently supported on Android – is still reserved exclusively for Apple Pay transactions. With the new release, Apple expanded NFC sup- port to include NDEF (NFC Data Exchange Format) tag reading. This enables a user to tap his/her phone » The more form factor options for carrying trusted identities, the better, so that organization can support the broadest range of use cases. « — Brandon Arcement, Director of Product Marketing HID Global is enhanced with biometrics which helps to ensure protection against unauthorized access. These fac- tors point to solid growth opportunities. Gaulden: There are use cases being implemented where wearables can drive a better experience. Take healthcare, for example. The ability to move through a facility, purchase food, gain access to your room, set room temperatures, call for assistance and track a patient can all be achieved via a wearable. Arcement: The more form factor options for car- rying trusted identities, the better, so that organiza- tions can support the broadest range of use cases. Smart watches and personal biometric devices are the most common wearables for use in the enterprise environment today, but the extended use of wear- ables for enterprise access solutions continues to be part of the conversation. These devices are getting smarter and more common with support for a grow- ing number of applications. There has obviously been an increased focus on cybersecurity when it comes to video surveillance given the prevalence of IP technology in the market , but have those same concerns made their way to access control? What is being done currently to prevent access control systems from falling victim to hackers? Boriskin: The IT/cybersecurity of security man- agement systems is front and center in our minds. It's definitely something we, as an industry, need to pay attention to. What that looks like from our standpoint is that we must take these threats seri- ously while also running penetration testing and evaluation, such as white hat hacking of our own systems, to ensure we are keeping up with the state of the industry and best practices in IP security. I don't think security through obscurity is good enough anymore. There are a lot of eyes evaluat- ing security and it has to be a continual evaluation as new threats emerge. Kane: Cybersecurity concerns have absolutely made their way into access control. Although unex- pected, this past year, in particular, elicited a height- ened acknowledgement of cyber threats to existing security systems, as the inundation of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions brought with it an increased vulnerability for cyber-attacks. Access control provid- ers are realizing the importance of performing man- datory audits and hardening of the installed base to address this concern, and policies must be developed to ensure the responsible designing and installing of new security systems. Arcement: As with the video surveillance indus- try, we have seen security vulnerabilities become increasingly common in legacy technologies. To protect physical access control assets, it is critical on a tag for a wide variety of applications. There- fore, it greatly extends a number of applications in our RFID business and significantly expands the available market of compatible devices that can be used with solutions such as HID Trusted Tag Ser- vices. While NFC offers an attractive alternative to consider for the future in access control, Bluetooth remains the only ubiquitous communication stan - dard that enables cross-platform support for mobile access today. Laughlin: Any move made by Apple will have sig- nificant reverberations in the market. In this case, it is likely to accelerate the adoption of smartphones being used for credentialing over access cards and readers. Boriskin: The increased availability of Apple's NFC is encouraging and will further drive mobile adoption. It's unclear at this point what that means for access control. Anything that improves people's use of mobile technology is good for the industry. The more people are comfortable with using mobile payments, the better. We've also heard a lot about the prospects of wearable technologies for access control purposes. Is this something that will become a bigger part of access control deployments moving forward or is it just a passing fad? Laughlin: Ease of use and convenience have always been key features in access control solutions and wearable technologies, such as smart watches or personal biometric devices, easily fall into this cat- egory. In addition to the convenience factor, security