Security Question

[Tweak]

Hi,

I know this isn't really network related, but maybe you guys can help.

We have a access control issue at my office. We are using a keypad to allow people in and out of my department. But I have to run to the door and type in my key each time someone needs to enter.

I am sure everyone already knows my key >.>

What we want to try next is a fingerprint scanner. But I need to find out some stuff about it first.

For example, i know if I open this keypad and reconnect some of the wires the doors will unlock. Not very safe if you ask me!

What will make the biometric scanner (Finger Print Reader) any better? Can't I just hook up a pc finger print scanner and some kind of serial port to my pc to control this action?

 

[UnUnOctium]

Have a morphable key sequence? i.e. when opening the door, system generates a new key for one-time use?

You need to provide some details on how the whole system is connected.

 

[SBSP]

We have 5 biometric scanners here at work which i manage.
I have also messed around with the SDK in VB6 to get Time and Attendance logs from it.
What you want to do is definitely possible, but the one we have if from a some china company called ZK software.
and they all run via cat5 cables which all have an IP address and which is also connected to our LAN.

Also what i have noticed is that most of these companies who sell Biometric systems has the same hardware engine and just the casing on the outside are different, which means they all should be able to take
CAT5 connections , ours have an Ethernet port on the actual board.
and as for the cables releasing the lock , yes you can just open them and join or cut the correct wire and it will open.

What we have also done is in one of our departments we installed a remote which is the same remote you use on a remote entrance gate which releases the magnet or solenoid basically overriding the biometric system
I think this just opens a relay which cuts power to the magnet so no intervention is required on the biometric system.


From the software that came with these biometric systems i can also open doors from its control panel.
Hope this helps.

 

[risami]

Get an access control system installed. Those small circular tags that can be used as a keyring works out nicely. That way no forget or looses the tag (unless they walked to work) and no hands or fingers are lost. It pretty easy to remove/revoke the access rights for those devices and the prices for installation won't cost your company an ..."arm and a leg" hee hee. Just my 2c - hope it helped.

 

[Tweak]

wow great information everybody..

Thanks so much I really appreciate all you who took the time to reply.


Im particularly curious about the ZK Software company, I asked them for a quotation. Maybe if it isn't too expensive we can get one for our office. I wonder how you get those remote to interface with the biometric scanner, is it something you tweaked yourself or does it come built into the system?

The remote would be great if we could get a camera that takes people's pictures as they come in and out + timestamps. That way there is still accountability.


@ The R we do use those clocking cards at our factory. To allow people to clock in and out, the problem is that not everyone has his own card, and people tend to share out their cards.

The office gives our poor workers only 15minutes of bathroom/smoking time per day. So any more than that will result in them losing some of their hourly pay

What they do is borrow the cleaner's cards and go out as long as they like etc. But now that we have CCTV Cameras everywhere (which I am in charge of managing + Tracking 30 vehicles on my pc >.>) I wish the hardware could help me spot irregularities.

Ideally there should be some kind of alarm if a person's card is used more than 4 times in 10 minutes or so.

Having one person that should manage all these places at once is too far fetched.

We need a better system that logs the worker's times and also provides real time logging of who came and went for my review.


There should also be room for allowing certain people to come in and out once per day (ie persons who don't have cards and get paid per day and not per hour)