Biometric access control to play major role in retail organizations

Biometric access control systems built around integrated biometric readers will drive improvements in identity verification for cards used in payment and loyalty programs, increasing their use and functionality, experts in the field have recently been able to reveal.

Biometrics will also play a major role as the industry continues to combat high-profile retail breaches that highlight the vulnerability of current authentication solutions at the point of sale (POS), the same source said.

New and improved types of credentials that actively use secure smartcard technology will significantly bolster security. Furthermore, even more effective solutions are possible using the same biometric technology that is already authenticating both the credential and the person carrying it at popular theme parks and in banking and other applications. Only a biometric can establish who is actually present for a transaction, and the coming generation of POS applications will include fingerprint authentication to ensure that only authorized people are approving transactions.

Meanwhile, inside the store, integrators will increasingly be called on to help their customers adopt biometric solutions for time-and-attendance applications, eliminating the problems of employees sharing, swapping, stealing and/or losing their PINs, passwords and ID cards.

Biometric access control — the future of security in retail

Biometric technology uses human physical attributes as locks and keys, making it particularly suitable for access control systems on the buildings of large organisations. Using biometrics for security and identification requires meeting two challenges: they must be cheap enough and sufficiently simple to be used by ordinary users. Furthermore, for enhanced security, these biometric access control systems should combine two or more types of authentication, such as coupling fingerprints with key codes or passwords to provide greater trust that who is logging in is only who is expected to do so.

Tensor Plc, the UK's number one manufacturer and installer of time and attendance and access control systems, supplies a range of top-range, reliable and affordable Smart Card electronics combined with a biometric fingerprint reader.

In an elegant case and easy to use, this product is for those who want the absolute peace-of-mind, certainty and the assurance that only the right people can gain access to your sensitive or dangerous areas.

If you'd like to find out more about the extensive range of access control solutions supplied by Tensor, just contact us or Book a Demo, we'd be more than happy to answer all of your questions and queries.