Tag: FreeVolt

WEBINAR: Biometric access control: are fingerprint cards the future? 

18 September 2023

To watch the ‘Security Matters’ webinar with S-Key alongside legal and security experts click here.

Breaches in physical and logical access control are becoming mhttps://events.streamgo.live/biometric-access-control-are-fingerprint-cards-the-future/live?ore frequent, costly and damaging. Now that biometric authentication is an accepted means of identification, can fingerprint access cards cut the risks of breach and improve security? 

Gonzalo de Gisbert, Head of Product and Business Development at Freevolt Technologies, Graham Evans, Chief Technical Officer at the British Security Industry Association (BSIA) and Will Richmond-Coggan, a partner at Freeths Law Firm, took part in a popular webinar this week for Security Matters Magazine, a key resource for security and risk management professionals. 

To watch the webinar in full and learn more about biometric access control solutions and how S-Key’s fingerprint access cards work in practice, head over to the webinar recording at Security Matters Magazine. 

Useful webinar on biometric access control 

Over 500 people signed up for the webinar, presented by Brian Sims (Editor of Security Matters) with experts in security and legal data control. Key questions included:

  1. What are the security benefits of biometric access control?
  2. What are the pros and cons of different forms of biometric access technology?
  3. Where are personal biometric details stored, and what are the implications for company GDPR compliance?
  4. How do biometric access cards work in practice, and what are the costs of adoption?

Biometric access technology 

Gonzalo explained the growing need for strong two-factor authentication in any access control system, and the benefits of using biometric identification to ensure that only the authorised person can gain access. 

Whilst biometric technology can be installed as wall readers, on personal devices such as mobile phones, or on dedicated cards, Gonzalo showed that on-card biometric authentication is currently the most flexible and effective solution.

Expert lawyer says S-Key’s access control solution simplifies data control 

S-Key was joined in the webinar by lawyer Will Richmond-Coggan, a partner at Freeths, who advised on the potential risks for an organisation in holding and using biometric data, under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). 

Where biometric personal data is used for identification, this falls into a special category imposing particular obligations on the person using that data, which can be onerous. S-Key’s solution removes this added burden by ensuring that the biometric identity function is carried out exclusively on the card itself, so that the data is never accessible to the organisation or from its systems. 

As Will notes, S-Key’s solution “gives all the convenience of fingerprint-enabled access control, but without the headaches that go along with that.”

Security expert confirms personal data is secure on S-Key access control cards 

Expert in data compliance, access control, biometrics and cyber security Graham Evans reinforced this view. Graham is Technical Officer at the British Security Industry Association and stated that S-Key’s on-card fingerprint storage and encryption is “from a data protection standpoint very secure.”

The trial showed law firm the benefits of S-Key fingerprint access cards 

Freeths has trialled the S-Key access control system and found it to be a great improvement on their existing fob access control. As Will Richmond-Coggan shared in the webinar, it was quick to set up and they used the fingerprint access control cards alongside existing systems at one of their 13 UK sites, allowing graduated access for different users without the need to invest in infrastructure.

“What is striking about the S-Key solution is that it is one we could be confident about rolling out across all our venues… rather than having to have something bespoke to each environment, so we could standardise our approach to access control even across a multi-site setting.”

Biometric access control cards: the future is fingerprints 

This Security Matters webinar explored how biometric access control adds a robust security layer to access control, and showed that it can be cost-efficient and sustainable. 

To watch the webinar please click here.

Contact us now for an evaluation card to trial our innovative, secure and sustainable access control system – call +44 (0)203 1762350 or email info@freevolt.tech.

How biometric access cards improve protection against physical security breaches.

15 June 2023

Physical security breaches can be catastrophic for businesses. IBM’s new Report “Cost of a data breach 2022” lays bare the cost to organisations of both the immediate and prolonged responses to data breaches.

Compromised physical security accounts for 8-9% of data breaches, according to the Report, with a further 18% caused by lost or stolen credentials. So, how can you protect your business from these expensive and disruptive physical breaches?

S-Key’s biometric access card provides the solution: an easy-to-use, infrastructure-free, personalised card that can only be used by the authorised holder. Simple, safe and secure.

Counting the cost of physical security breaches

IBM’s Report puts the average cost of a security breach where the initial attack vector was ‘physical security compromise’ at $3.96 million. For ‘stolen or compromised credentials’ the figure is $4.50 million. Moreover, the time to identify and contain a data breach (the data breach lifecycle) can easily exceed 9 months.

Physical security breaches can have far-reaching consequences, including:

  • Immediate operational impact on day-to-day business
  • Reputational damage and diminished goodwill
  • Revenue and efficiency losses during the data breach lifecycle
  • Risks of contamination, for example in healthcare situations
  • Loss of intellectual property
  • Legal liability to third parties for security failure

What are the main risk factors for physical security breaches?

Many existing physical security systems rely on the possession of a security card, password or PIN, or on employees (including security staff) giving access to others. But all of these systems are vulnerable to abuse and human error.

Access by password or PIN may be observed and copied, and for ‘Tap & Go’ systems with no supporting authentication, lost or stolen cards will give full access to any holder. Thanks to changes in the workplace since the pandemic, and the advent of hybrid working, security staff and other employees may also no longer be able properly to identify authorised personnel.

How S-Key solves the problem of physical security

S-Key’s innovative solution closes these vulnerabilities by ensuring that the authorised card holder must actually be present before access is approved. By linking card access to biometric data, S-Key denies physical access unless a positive identification links the card to the person holding it.

S-Key cards are simple to set up with fingerprint identification – this key security layer adds only 30 seconds to the card issuance process. Access is then authorised using existing card-reading infrastructure, which can log access details but does not store any personal or sensitive information outside of the card. It’s a simple, secure solution to physical access control.

Trial the S-Key biometric access card at no extra cost

S-Key security cards work with your existing NFC access control system ‘out of the box’. With no additional infrastructure cost, you can trial our fingerprint-activated access control cards safely and cost-effectively.

S-Key’s secure, contactless technology is available in NXP MIFARE, HID or LEGIC versions to work with new or existing hardware. It can be used alongside other security systems too, so you can choose to use fingerprint activated biometric access for higher security areas whilst continuing with your current system elsewhere.

To request an S-Key card to trial please get in touch by clicking on the button below.

REQUEST EVALUATION CARD