Amer Hafiz, technical director at Nortech Control Systems, reviews the evolution of identity credentials in access control. Access control is defined as ‘the selective restriction of access to a place or other resource’. For an automatic access control system to function, it requires a means of identifying individuals to determine their access rights. The form of identification can be anything from a memorised password or PIN (personal identification number) to biometrics (measurement of a human characteristic).
Since the early days when access was granted when an authorised PIN was entered into a keypad, access control systems have evolved to support many forms of ‘physical’ credentials. Generally referred to as ‘pass cards’, these credentials have taken many forms:
