FIPS 201 News
Alliance releases paper on physcial access control
The Smart Card Alliance Physical Access Council has released a white paper detailing the types of authentication mechanisms available for physical access control systems to identify people entering different areas.
With Personal Identity Verification credentials being issued by government agencies for both physical and logical access, many agencies are working on upgrading or replacing their installed physical access control systems to meet new PIV requirements.
The new white paper, Authentication Mechanisms for Physical Access Control, details authentication mechanisms beyond those in the NIST Special Publication 800-116, The paper, published in November 2008, provides useful guidance on where to deploy various PIV authentication mechanisms. However, not all possible authentication mechanisms are included in the NIST publication. The new white paper describes additional methods, their use, and the regulations or requirements that drive their implementation.
Some of the alternative authentication mechanisms described in the white paper include: mutual authentication protocol (MAP); mutual registration; and widely deployed mechanisms such as a combination of cards, PINs, and operational or reference biometrics. The white paper also details example implementations using alternative authentication mechanisms, including the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) and the Aviation Credential Interoperability Solution (ACIS) program.
The paper can be downloaded here.