Actually, EVERYTHING is trackable from the OneCard system. They can reconstruct every transaction you've ever done, down to the exact items you purchased. They just don't tell students this little fact.
As far as the door entry systems-- when the doors go offline, they each have a list of who's supposed to get through that door that it refers to (if that particular type of hardware is installed-- they have models that can handle 4,8, and 16,000 cardholders.) Some campuses do use the IP Converters to put the card systems on the campus network, but where I used to work, we had the whole system on its own private network-- our IS department was clueless, and if we'd had to rely on their network for something this mission-critical, nothing ever would have worked. Blackboard was pretty bad as far as security with the HP-9000 -- when I left, the system was still running HP-UX 10.2, and they were FINALLY talking about how to get it to 11. You couldn't do any patching to the 10.2 system, because they had to approve and test every single patch-- and that never happened. So-- if you wanted, it wouldn't be too hard to get control of the machine and have at it.
Look at the logos on the reader housings. They'll either say AT&T or Blackboard. The POS stations are roughly 'wedge shaped', and the logo is at the bottom of the keyboard overlay. If there are security door swipes, the Blackboard/AT&T system has 3 LED's on it, green, yellow, and red. (Plus a green LED at the bottom that is the power light.)
(Yes, I used to work for a college that had a Blackboard system-- and the system is EXTREMELY expensive-- about $3-4K per reader. Runs off an HP-9000 system, though.:) )
Re:This is nothing....follow link for a real displ
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Christmas is Coming
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Wrong. The Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights is at Disney-MGM Studios now-- they've even set up a 'neighborhood' all decked in lights. a link to the Disney page about it.
Actually, it's a combination of both. The (HP9000) server uses RS-232 to communicate with an RS-232/RS-485 converter, which then talks to the reader via Cat5 cable/RJ45.
As far as running the system over a LAN, sure you can, and lots of schools do, using terminal servers. However, the final connection between the RS-485 converter and the reader is hard-wired. Using terminal servers isn't the greatest idea, because when the Ethernet network goes down or traffic gets heavy, the readers go offline and stop working until communication is restored.
Almost all 'fraud' occurs when people lose cards, don't report them lost (leaving them activated), and others get the cards and use them. Sniffing traffic and spoofing is pretty much impossible, due to the way the readers authenticate and communicate with the server. (Hasn't happened anywhere yet that I've heard of, and the system's been around 10+ years.)
Magtek sells them for a lot less than that. Here's a link to their product page-- they sell stand-alone and PC-controlled versions that can record on all 3 tracks on the stripe. Also, a lot of ID card printers have mag encoders built in, and they run somewhere around $2000--less if you find used ones. Fargo makes several inexpensive ones that encode and print in one pass.
I'm a technician on a campus that uses the CampusWide system (Optim9000). AT&T actually sold off the CampusWide division to Blackboard.com late last year. This is the updated URL. The system runs on an HP-9000 server (HP-UX 10.x, soon 11.x), and uses its own proprietary network format and database (I think it's called Raima, but don't quote me.) It can run across a standard LAN, but for reliability, it's usually set up to run on its own separate network. CW is supposed to be releasing a piece of hardware that will allow readers to use IP addressing, but it hasn't materialized yet (they keep saying 'soon'). The system can handle point-of-sale, access control, digital photo-ID production/management(uses an Informix database and DataCard software/hardware to store pictures/print IDs) and scales upwards effortlessly. Our campus has well over 200 readers, 15,000+ cardholders, and 99%+ up-time. I know that USC, UCLA, Duke, Harvard, and around 400 other schools use this system. (Even Honda Motor Co. uses it at one of its plants.) It's not cheap, though. Hope this helps.
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Actually, EVERYTHING is trackable from the OneCard system. They can reconstruct every transaction you've ever done, down to the exact items you purchased. They just don't tell students this little fact.
As far as the door entry systems-- when the doors go offline, they each have a list of who's supposed to get through that door that it refers to (if that particular type of hardware is installed-- they have models that can handle 4,8, and 16,000 cardholders.) Some campuses do use the IP Converters to put the card systems on the campus network, but where I used to work, we had the whole system on its own private network-- our IS department was clueless, and if we'd had to rely on their network for something this mission-critical, nothing ever would have worked. Blackboard was pretty bad as far as security with the HP-9000 -- when I left, the system was still running HP-UX 10.2, and they were FINALLY talking about how to get it to 11. You couldn't do any patching to the 10.2 system, because they had to approve and test every single patch-- and that never happened. So-- if you wanted, it wouldn't be too hard to get control of the machine and have at it.
Look at the logos on the reader housings. They'll either say AT&T or Blackboard. The POS stations are roughly 'wedge shaped', and the logo is at the bottom of the keyboard overlay. If there are security door swipes, the Blackboard/AT&T system has 3 LED's on it, green, yellow, and red. (Plus a green LED at the bottom that is the power light.)
:) )
(Yes, I used to work for a college that had a Blackboard system-- and the system is EXTREMELY expensive-- about $3-4K per reader. Runs off an HP-9000 system, though.
And guess who's out front waving the flag of support for this?
Wrong. The Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights is at Disney-MGM Studios now-- they've even set up a 'neighborhood' all decked in lights. a link to the Disney page about it.
Actually, it's a combination of both. The (HP9000) server uses RS-232 to communicate with an RS-232/RS-485 converter, which then talks to the reader via Cat5 cable/RJ45.
As far as running the system over a LAN, sure you can, and lots of schools do, using terminal servers. However, the final connection between the RS-485 converter and the reader is hard-wired. Using terminal servers isn't the greatest idea, because when the Ethernet network goes down or traffic gets heavy, the readers go offline and stop working until communication is restored.
Almost all 'fraud' occurs when people lose cards, don't report them lost (leaving them activated), and others get the cards and use them. Sniffing traffic and spoofing is pretty much impossible, due to the way the readers authenticate and communicate with the server. (Hasn't happened anywhere yet that I've heard of, and the system's been around 10+ years.)
Magtek sells them for a lot less than that. Here's a link to their product page-- they sell stand-alone and PC-controlled versions that can record on all 3 tracks on the stripe. Also, a lot of ID card printers have mag encoders built in, and they run somewhere around $2000--less if you find used ones. Fargo makes several inexpensive ones that encode and print in one pass.
I'm a technician on a campus that uses the CampusWide system (Optim9000). AT&T actually sold off the CampusWide division to Blackboard.com late last year. This is the updated URL. The system runs on an HP-9000 server (HP-UX 10.x, soon 11.x), and uses its own proprietary network format and database (I think it's called Raima, but don't quote me.) It can run across a standard LAN, but for reliability, it's usually set up to run on its own separate network. CW is supposed to be releasing a piece of hardware that will allow readers to use IP addressing, but it hasn't materialized yet (they keep saying 'soon'). The system can handle point-of-sale, access control, digital photo-ID production/management(uses an Informix database and DataCard software/hardware to store pictures/print IDs) and scales upwards effortlessly. Our campus has well over 200 readers, 15,000+ cardholders, and 99%+ up-time. I know that USC, UCLA, Duke, Harvard, and around 400 other schools use this system. (Even Honda Motor Co. uses it at one of its plants.) It's not cheap, though. Hope this helps.