July 24, 2024
Access Control in NYC: Doors That Always Lock in the City That Never Sleeps
Like humans, most businesses don’t operate 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Even in a city that never sleeps – like New York City is – there comes a time when most businesses lock their doors for the night.
And when that time comes, I bet security is the No. 1 thing on your mind.
You not only want to know those doors are going to stay locked, but you want to make sure every minute of every day is accounted for, and that you have a full record of everyone entering, leaving, and lingering.
If your security system can’t do that for you, then it’s time for an upgrade.
And that’s true for any business – whether you’re open 24/7 or not.
It doesn’t matter what industry we’re talking about – every building, warehouse, office, store, or facility I’ve been in has high-security areas that need to be locked down at certain times of the day – if not all day.
It could be the CEO’s office or a room you store important documents in – either way, you can count on a little thing we like to call access control, and we’re going to tell you everything you need to know about it.
Access control is a security framework that allows business owners to regulate and manage who enters their property (whether it be physical or digital property) and at which times of the day they have access.
In other words – it allows authorized individuals in, and keeps unauthorized parties out.
Physical access control refers to a business’s premises, buildings, or areas within those buildings, while logical access control refers to digital assets and resources – like computer systems, networks, and data.
With that said, there are four primary types of access control systems:
Since most employees and guests will have different levels of security clearance, it’s important that your access control system allows you to properly delegate authorizations and privileges to the right people.
There was a time when access control was defined by locks and keys – now known as the traditional method. As long as they had the right key, anyone could enter whether they were allowed to or not.
But those days are behind us – and access control looks a little different in 2024.
Today, access control systems generally operate in four different stages – identification, authentication, authorization, and accounting. Each stage is meant to further verify and confirm an individual’s clearance.
It not only knows someone is entering, but it knows exactly who that person is.
This process is vital to keeping your business – and everything that comes with it (employees, customers, product, data) – safe. Even if something goes wrong, everything will be documented and timestamped.
With that said, let’s take a closer look at the four stages of access control.
The first phase in access control is identifying the individual trying to enter your premises or gain access to your data. If the system can’t identify who they are and what their purpose is, they won’t be allowed in.
Identification is usually achieved through a username, ID badge, or key card.
Access control systems ask for identification in one of three major ways – what the individual knows (PIN, password, security question), what they have (ID badge, key, card), and what they are (biometric data).
Now that the individual has been identified, the system needs to validate that the individual is, in fact, who they say they are. After all, an intruder could be trying to use someone else’s ID badge or key card.
Authentication usually involves a second, more personal form of identification.
Passwords are common here, but many systems are starting to prioritize biometric data (fingerprint or eye scanning, facial recognition, and voice recognition) since it’s so hard to fake, duplicate, and manipulate.
By now, the person has either been verified (confirmed identity) or flagged as a potential intruder. Those who fall under the second category will be denied access and the security team will likely be notified.
Those who pass the identification and authentication process move on to the authorization phase.
During this phase, the system checks an individual’s security level and ensures they’re authorized to enter the area they’re trying to enter. If they are, then the door will unlock and they’ll be allowed in.
One of the biggest drawbacks to a traditional lock and key is that there’s no accountability when people enter and leave. Unless you have a camera by the door, you won’t have any record of the ongoing traffic.
And that’s true for those with authorization and those without authorization.
Don’t worry – the modern access control systems of today record just about anything, so you’ll know the exact moment someone tries to gain access to your property – and whether or not they were approved.
Does your security system have multiple ways of identifying, authenticating, and authorizing those who are entering or leaving your property? Does it keep a running record of incoming and outgoing traffic?
If your security system can’t do that for you, then it’s time for an upgrade.
And if it’s time for an upgrade, then you’ll love what access control can do for you.
At PSE Audio-Visual, there’s nothing we enjoy more than reassuring business owners that their property – either physical or logical – is safe and secure… And access control is one of the best ways to do that.
Contact our New York City office today at (347) 460-4590 to learn how to better protect your business!