Access Control Systems
Your physical location, whether it’s an office, retail store, or restaurant, is one of your biggest business assets and liabilities. It usually contains most of your equipment, stock, and sensitive records. Keeping your business safe means keeping your physical location safe too. The first line of defense is a physical access control system. Here, we’ll talk about types, advantages, and costs of access systems so that you can make an informed decision on the right access control system for your business.
What is an Access Control System?
An access control system is a means to prevent unwanted people from gaining physical access to certain areas of your business location. A simple deadbolt door lock is the most basic form of access control.
Every system has its weaknesses. A deadbolt requires a key that is easy to replicate and can easily be passed to an unauthorized user, and locks with traditional physical keys can be picked.
Every time a control system is breached, someone comes up with a new idea on how to refine security systems, so now there are a variety of solutions on the market.
Traditional vs Cloud-Based Access Control System
There are a few different types of access control systems for physical security of your premises. These systems prevent unauthorized access to your building or rooms within your building. Traditional access control systems use metal keys to unlock doors. This presents a lot of issues – keys can get lost, stolen, copied, or broken. You don’t always know who’s got access to what.
A cloud-based system can mitigate many of those issues. You can assign access to specific users based on their roles, and manage their access through a variety of implementation options. If a team member loses a key, no worries. You can render that key useless via the cloud. In cases where something happens, like inventory loss or an accident, you can tell who was near the incident based on their key use. Cloud-based systems easily integrate modern options, including:
- Audio/Visual assets or security camera systems
- Customizable digital control panel
- Smart readers
- Mobile access
- Biometric readers
- Facial recognition
Cloud-based systems also support keyless entry systems. With keyless systems, your employees can enter an individualized access code or tap a device, like a dongle or their mobile devices, at the entry point. Since each code or device is unique, you always know who accessed each area and when. And you don’t need to spend money on creating keys. You can easily generate a specific code for each new employee.
Removing access rights, whether to specific areas or the premises as a whole, are easy as well. Instead of having to ask for physical property to be returned or surrendered, you can revoke employee access through your access control software. This minimizes the emotional component of an employee leaving.
Even better, cloud-based systems mean that you don’t need a large server room to control access, minimizing the sensitive information on your premises. That means less risk and a simpler computer business solution. With high online security measures in place, you can have peace of mind knowing that your access control needs are available around the clock, from the convenience of home or on the road.
Let us find you the best access control systems for your specific business needs.
Access Control System Models
When you’ve got the hardware figured out, it’s time to look at how to assign access levels in a comprehensive way. Using one of the common models for your access control systems will help you streamline onboarding and offboarding processes, ensuring that the right people have access to the right areas at the right times. Even better, you can use the model you choose not only on your physical access control systems, but in your computer networking systems as well. Security professionals approach the problem from a question of how access is determined first, then think about how to best implement it. The models commonly used include:
Discretionary access control is the most flexible access model. Small businesses often use discretionary access management due to the small number of employees. In this model, any resource, whether a door or a computer file, has an administrator. The administrator manually sets access to the resource via a list (ACL). These lists are manually maintained. Members of the list can share their level of access to others. This is convenient in small organizations with few sensitive resources so that access can quickly be granted.
Mandatory access control is the most restrictive approach. In this system, only the owner of the resource can choose the level of clearance and access points. Most commonly associated with governmental clearances, MAC systems do not allow for user input and can be very cumbersome to work with.
Role-based access control assigns access to resources based on the user's role within the organization.
In a retail store, openers and closers are roles that get store keys, for example. A sales associate role may not.
In a bar, bartenders will be able to enter orders and inventory into the register with key cards, but barbacks may only be able to mark inventory with their cards.
Your organization can set up access roles for employees to better manage onboarding, offboarding, and access management. With a complete access profile for each role, you can ensure that a new manager has all the access they need right from the start. You also know that when an employee leaves, you've closed off all their access. Additionally, a user can't share or revoke someone else's access.
Rules-based control gives access based not on someone's position within the company, but by rules around how the resource should be used.
If a delivery door is only supposed to be used outside of business hours, a RuBAC system can restrict the door from opening during those hours. Or a specific device, like a smart tag on a pallet, could open doors based on the proximity of the tag to the door. This would allow workers in a warehouse to easily get goods ready for delivery.
Attribute-based controls is the most granular approach. Here, user roles and access attributes combine to create dynamic access sets.
Best for large organizations with complex needs, like the health care industry. Not every nurse gets access to every patient at any time of day. Specific nurses for certain departments get access during their shift to the patients they are assigned to cover. ABAC is the best approach to these types of situations.
Technology Solutions has significant experience guiding businesses through these models and creating access control systems that are personalized specifically to each business. See what we can do for you!