Campus officials struggle with the equilibrium between providing the best security for students, faculty, and staff, while still allowing them to move freely throughout the campus. Campus security’s main focus is to strengthen physical security, whereas the campus itself must still be a barrier-free, accessible environment to enhance student culture.
A recent Ingram Micro Advisor article on developing a physical security plan noted, “While security on school campuses is a top priority, it’s also important for students (and teachers) to feel safe and welcome at their school. Most colleges in particular have open, highly accessible campuses, and any security technology should preserve that spirit, rather than stifling it.”
Challenge
How do officials strengthen physical security without sacrificing easy access to campus facilities, resources, and services? At a time when fraudulent ID card use is on the rise and on-campus violence events are increasing, the balance between security and accessibility needs to be resolved without damaging the user experience.
Utilizing enhanced access control technologies, campuses can now strike a balance between accessibility and security. There are several options available to universities and colleges that are relatively affordable and easy to implement available through Convergint Technologies and its partner, HID Global.
Solutions
Smartcard Solutions
A majority of student IDs currently utilize bar code or magnetic stripe technology for campus access. Security can be easily improved by moving to a smart card with an embedded smart chip.
This solution is very difficult to clone, making it harder for unauthorized access. It also preserves accessibility as students and faculty simply need to tap their card on a reader to gain access. Each smart card contains information that is specific to the user, so that they can be configured to allow access to specific buildings, services, or applications.
The multi-technology smart cards provide students and faculty access to all university buildings and services via a single ID card.
Mobile Credentials
Utilizing handheld devices, HID also offers the next generation of access control through secure mobile credentials on handheld devices. HID Mobile Access enables students and faculty to seamlessly gain access throughout the campus.
HID Mobile Access delivers the highest level of security and privacy protection available for access control, as it is based on ISO standards and used by the U.S. government and other organizations globally to encrypt classified or sensitive data.
This mobile solution meets user demands for flexible access control and identity management without sacrificing security and privacy.
Visual Security Element
An affordable and easy to implement solution is to add a visual security element (VSE) option to student IDs. This makes credentials easily verifiable and difficult to duplicate. From overt to covert options include: holographic overlays, microtext, fluorescing images and more.
Utilizing HID Global’s vanGO technology, the VSE options increase the visual security of campus cards by engraving the cardholder’s unique image on to a special metallic patch that is hot-stamped on each card as it is issued. These VSEs provide a quick method to determine if the card is authentic. By integrating a VSE, campus officials are able to produce personalized IDs in just minutes.