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Securing Your Facility?
krahd asks: "We, at the CS department of our University, in Uruguay, are evaluating different ways of securing the access to our floor. Until now we have used just a traditional door lock, but its's time to delpoy a new, more geeky solution. So, after reading this Ask Slashdot, I figured I'd pose this question as a follow-up. What would be the best way to do it? We've already evaluated biometric technologies like iris-scanning and fingerprint-scanning, and more traditional ways like intelligent cards but, what others possibilities exist, and which would you choose? Yes, price does matter."
We have fingerprint scanners to get into a computer room and they are very flaky. Lots of false negatives, dunno on the false positive rate (haven't tried). They also require a 4 digit pin number. Kinda defeats the purpose, huh?
-Sean
That does not defeat the purpose at all. The concept of using two different authentication mechanisms together is called two-factor authentication. Not only is it a well-established Information Security principle, it's also considered a Best Practice.
After all, if someone steals your finger, at least they won't know your PIN!
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Use an electronic keypad lock where users need a special 4 or 5 digit key to get in. Make sure it is smart enough to have many keys, so each user (or special group of users) gets their own unique key. Everytime someone leaves, just remove them from the list. Biometric methods are flaky and expensive. They sound cool, but, IMO, it will just make people want to break them.
Appropriate Google search.
-Sean
Yes, fingerprint scans often can be defeated easily.
As a student at the IT dept at RIT, I've had a chance to observe our security firsthand -- it's really quite simple. The easiest security measures are "scramble pads" -- everyone has an ID code, but the numbers on the pad are displayed in random order, so other people cannot observe the code you enter. It seemed to work really well.
We use ID card/code right now, and there's quite a lot of grumbling over it.
Either way, they are simple and secure -- don't bother with anything fancy, it isn't worth your time.
Maybe you can use iButtons? They're more robust than plastic cards and you can add a keypad for extra security. You can also hook them up to a pc to keep a log. However, the buttons are quite expensive so let the students/staff pay for them or they'll lose them frequently..
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