The Game Changer

The Game Changer

How Artificial Intelligence changes the access control game

Most access control systems are focused on improving security and protecting the business, ensuring that only the right people have the right access to the right areas. It keeps the bad guys out and the good guys in. But what happens when the environment changes and becomes a potential danger to the individuals inside or when a crisis strikes?

Modern access control technology is now able to leverage innovations in artificial intelligence (AI) and open standards to adapt to environmental changes. It can move from a gatekeeper to a life saver enabling safe passage for those who need to enter and assist, or to route people inside to a safer area of the building. With new levels of intelligent insights, risk adaptability and interoperability, physical access control systems are now able to significantly improve life safety, while also minimizing risk to the organization.

AI and Access Control— Sensory-based Security

The first important innovation we need to discuss is artificial intelligence. AI is based on an Artificial Neural Network, which works like the human brain—just as humans have senses to see, hear, smell, taste and feel. Humans can make decisions based on the combination of activity our senses report to our brains. We can identify a wide variety of safety risks based on our senses.

In the case of an AI-equipped access control system, like the human brain, it too has a wide array of inputs that it constantly evaluates. The more connections and integrations it has with security systems and non-security applications and data, the more informed it is. Leveraging AI, the modern access control system can characterize activity and incoming data to identify patterns and recognize certain conditions that increase the threat to a facility and to the people inside the facility.

It can recommend or automate higher levels of control to avoid life safety consequences. Compared to a human security guard, an AI-based system can monitor more data, faster and more accurately without bias or distraction. It can leverage that intelligence to become risk-adaptive—adjusting access permissions based on risk levels.

A Shift from Role-Based to Risk-Adaptive Access Control

Risk comes in many forms. Dynamic by nature, it can increase exponentially in severity in a just matter of moments. Unfortunately, traditional access control systems are static by nature and cannot independently adapt to a changing environment. That inability can be detrimental to life safety and security.

Most traditional physical access control systems are role-based. Access is assigned based on a person’s role within an organization, assigning access to an access group representing a collection of doors that role can access at specific times. While this meets a very fundamental need, it controls access strictly by those static roles and does not adapt as the situation dynamically changes. If an incident occurs that could affect life safety, it requires a human, i.e., a security officer, to react to an alarm or situation and make changes to the access control system in order to protect someone who could unknowingly enter a bad situation or dangerous environment.

Today, we see the emergence of riskadaptive technology based on AI and new levels of interoperability. When applied to access, risk can be based on multiple criteria and access permissions can be adjusted as situations or individuals change. A riskadaptive system can monitor key data points, activity and risk levels for an individual or facility. Let’s look at some examples.

Environmental Risks: Mitigating danger

An employee may have authorized access to a specific location, but there may be a reason at that particular moment that the employee should not enter. There might be a safety threat and the risk-adaptive access control system would recognize this and prevent him or her from entering.

Consider some of the high-risk situations and what could occur if an unsuspecting person entered an area of risk. In critical infrastructure facilities, for example, there is always higher than average risk. Chemical spills, radioactivity, fire and other incidents are the dangerous examples to name a few. Those are relatively obvious risks and even legacy access control systems can provide some rudimentary measures to seal off areas of concern. However, without added intelligence and insight capabilities such as risk scoring and artificial intelligence (AI) to identify these risks, the current access control systems cannot adjust based on rising or sudden threats.

Beyond the facility, external threats such as weather events or potential riots in a particular area of the city, can impact the risk of entering a building or create a need for access to a safer area within the building. In those cases, the system would need to recognize the external threat and adjust access permissions while directing the employees to find safe shelter.

Emergency Response: Changing Access Permissions on the Fly

Conversely, I may normally not be authorized to access a certain area, but because of a high-threat condition and who I am, I can now enter. The combination of these two factors provided an exception to the access permissions. An intelligent access control system can analyze that data and adjust permissions on the fly.

A perfect example of this scenario would be in an emergency lockdown situation at a school. Upon arrival, with a smart device and the proof of identity, the first responder could quickly gain access to a school door or even be allowed to access the video surveillance system to see inside the school before entering. Today, with legacy access control systems, the first responder would be locked out and unable to quickly get eyes on the situation. Further, once the approved first responder has entered the school, the access-controlled door can secure behind him and a teacher or someone who may normally have authorized access would not be allowed to enter because of the elevated risk identified by the risk-aware access control system.

Going Beyond Forensic, Alarm-based to Reactive, Risk-Aware Controls

Like traditional systems, as incidents occur involving a policy breach or alarm trip, intelligent systems can immediately provide alert notifications and a plan of action for the security team to follow. An intelligent access control system can take this a step further. For example, imagine a chemical spill occurs and no one reports the incident, trips an alarm or initiates a fire pull. Without a human notification, the incident may go unnoticed.

However, with an intelligent access control system that leverages AI and integrates with other systems, it can monitor a wide array of sensor technology, data inputs, cameras, access activity and even external data sources. The system can identify anomalies that raise the threat level automatically at a facility. Leak detection, radioactivity, chemical spills and other incidents can be identified with traditional and IoT sensors and other data systems to predict what has occurred or what could occur. Further, integration with building controls systems can provide additional insight into a rising threat.

When a risk-adaptive access control system identifies threat conditions such as those mentioned above that could harm an individual, it can dynamically adjust the access permissions overriding any pre-defined rules or role profiles. Intelligent systems are predictive, proactive and can increase life safety. While a human remains in the loop and can override intelligent systems, the system can be set up to protect safety first.

It may deny access to an individual who normally has access, but is untrained or designated as a responder for the type of situation detected. Similarly, system operators, such as lobby guards, who may have the ability to temporarily open doors for visitors, but are unaware of the elevated threats around them, can be immediately denied that system-level ability to avoid further risk.

Endless Possibilities for Improved Life Safety

In today’s world, threats are increasing in sophistication and number. Our users are dynamic, our environments are always changing, and we have a wide range of systems and sensors providing important security-related data. We are overloading our security teams with information to the point where they cannot process it. Now, more than ever, is the time to provide them with AI assistance and risk-adaptive access control. Once you move to an environment that provides insights to your security team, the possibilities are endless.

This article originally appeared in the May/June 2019 issue of Security Today.

Featured

  • Return to Form

    My first security trade show was in 2021. At the time, I was awed by the sheer magnitude of the event and the spectacle of products on display. But this was the first major trade show coming out of the pandemic, and the only commentary I heard was how low the attendance was. Two representatives from one booth even spent the last morning playing catch in the aisle with their giveaway stress balls. Read Now

    • Industry Events
    • ISC West
  • Live from ISC West: Day 1 Recap

    The first day of ISC West 2023 is in the books, and it’s safe to say that vendors have brought their A-game to Las Vegas. The booths of this year’s Live From partners—NAPCO Security, Alibi Security, Vistacom, RGB Spectrum, and DoorKing—were swamped all day long. Here’s a brief recap of just a few highlights from each partner’s presence at the show. Read Now

    • Industry Events
    • ISC West
  • Turn on the AC, ISC West is Hot

    Nothing warm about the Las Vegas weather outside. It is cold, and it was raining after the opening day. No one seemed to care inside the convention center. The hall was packed with inquisitive security professionals. Read Now

    • Industry Events
    • ISC West
  • Live From ISC West 2023: Day 1

    ISC West 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada, has officially begun! Make sure to keep an eye on Security Today’s ISCW Live 2023 page, as well as our associated Twitter accounts—@SecurToday and @CampusSecur—for the latest updates from the show floor at the Venetian Expo. Read Now

    • Industry Events
    • ISC West
Most   Popular

Featured Cybersecurity

New Products

  • PACE® Long Range Ethernet Solutions

    PACE® Long Range Ethernet Solutions

    Altronix introduces the newest addition to its portfolio of PACE® Long Range Ethernet Solutions. 3

  • Camden Door Controls CV-603 2 Door Bluetooth Access Control System

    Camden Door Controls CV-603 2 Door Bluetooth Access Control System

    his app-based system is designed to provide ‘best in class’ security of doors and gates, with up to 2,000 users. The intuitive programming app is Apple® and Android® compatible, with easy to use system set-up, user administration, downloadable audit trail and data back-up. 3

  • BriefCam v6.0

    BriefCam v6.0

    BriefCam has released BriefCam v6.0, which introduces the new deployment option of a multi-site architecture. This enables businesses with multiple, distributed locations to view aggregate data from all remote sites to uncover trends across locations, optimize operations and boost real-time alerting and response – all while continuing to reap the benefits of BriefCam's powerful analytics platform for making video searchable, actionable and quantifiable. 3