Contactless Technology for Secure Physical Access

Publication Date: October 2002
Pages: 45

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Executive Summary

Contactless cards are increasingly accepted as the credential of choice for controlling physical access. They are both robust and flexible, giving security professionals the ability to reduce maintenance costs, improve employee productivity and increase security.

Contactless smart cards offer advantages to both the organization issuing the card and the cardholder. The issuing organization can support multiple applications on a single card, consolidating an appropriate mix of technologies and supporting a variety of security policies for different situations. Applications such as logical access to computer networks, electronic payment, electronic ticketing and transit can be combined with physical access to offer a multi-application and multi-technology ID credential. The issuer can also record and update appropriate privileges from a single central location. The organization as a whole incurs lower maintenance costs over the system life, due to the elimination of mechanical components and reader resistance to vandalism and harsh environmental conditions. With hybrid and dual-interface cards, issuers can also implement systems that benefit from multiple card technologies.

Three Primary Contactless Technologies Support Physical Access Control Applications

There are three primary contactless technologies considered for physical access control applications: 125 kHz, ISO 14443, and ISO 15693 technologies.

125 kHz read-only technology is used by the majority of today’s RFID access control systems and is based on de facto industry standards vs. international standards. 125 kHz technology allows for a secure, uniquely coded number to be transmitted and processed by a back-end system. The back-end system then determines the rights and privileges associated with that card.

Contactless smart card technology is based on ISO 14443 and ISO 15693 standards. Cards that comply with these standards are intelligent, read/write devices capable of storing different kinds of data and operating at different ranges. Standards-based contactless smart cards can authenticate a person’s identity, determine the appropriate level of access, and admit the cardholder to a facility, all from data stored on the card. These cards can include additional authentication factors (such as biometric templates or PINs) and other card technologies, including a contact smart card chip, to satisfy the requirements of legacy applications or applications for which a different technology is more appropriate.

Cards complying with these standards are developed commercially and have an established market presence. Multiple vendors are capable of supplying the standards-based components necessary to implement a contactless physical access system, providing buyers with interoperable equipment and technology at a competitive cost.

Contactless Smart Cards Offer Application Flexibility

Standards-based contactless smart cards offer organizations the flexibility to select appropriate technologies driven by business requirements, rather than implementation constraints. This allows organizations to implement and enforce a wide range of security policies by deploying a system best suited to the application. Smart card technology–both contact and contactless–provides a flexible platform that can address both current and future needs. Multi-technology, hybrid and dual-interface cards provide additional flexibility to help with migration from existing systems and incorporate multiple technologies appropriate for different applications. Additionally, implementation considerations, such as the impact on the organization, cost, and the effect on the user population, are more effectively addressed.

About This Report

This report was developed by the Smart Card Alliance to describe how contactless smart cards are used for physical access. The report focuses on providing a basic tutorial of physical access system operation and an overview of the three primary contactless technologies in use today for physical access control. The report does not attempt to fully discuss contact smart card technology or applications other than physical access. The paper provides answers to commonly asked questions about contactless technology, such as:

• Why consider contactless technology for physical access?
• What types of contactless technologies are available?
• How does a physical access control system work?
• What standards apply to contactless smart cards?
• What implementation considerations are critical to selecting the appropriate technology?

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