ADVICE & OPINION
MARCH 2022 21
FMJ.CO.UK
FM CLINIC
THE GLOBAL MANUFACTURER’S VIEW
MATT WINN, SR. DIRECTOR, PUBLIC RELATIONS AND
CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS, HID GLOBAL
The past two years have indeed
shaped many things and
accelerated new opportunities
in the security industry. There
are three main topics and
corresponding technologies that
will impact facilities managers as we
begin to emerge from the pandemic.
Physical Security in a Hybrid Work
Model: During quarantine, remote
working reached all-time highs.
Recent reports indicate that roughly
half the workforce in the UK, Europe
and United States was remote
during lockdown. The pandemic also laid bare the inflexibilities
and vulnerabilities within existing security architecture.
The security and identity industry must evolve to meet
emerging challenges and expectations of a workplace that is
everywhere now that the future of work is here. This means
upgrading infrastructure to support solutions, both in the
cloud and on-premise, that are not only highly secure, but
frictionless and future-ready. Hybrid work models also require
FMs to reassess how users access doors, networks and more.
New standards such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) and
passwordless authentication improve security and cyberhardening
of digital systems to support a remote workforce.
Contactless Technologies: Throughout 2022 and beyond,
a combination of biometrics and cloud-based
authentication solutions is poised to fuel
more secure and faster interactions with
technologies used to access places
and experiences, as well as mutisite
facilities such as universities
and hospitals. Already widely
used in banking and financial
services, fingerprint biometrics
is expanding into broader
applications.
For these systems that create,
delegate, deliver and present
trusted identity data for access
applications, biometrics will confirm
that users are who they say they are,
and they are doing what was intended.
More importantly, biometric authentication
eliminates risks associated with unlawful acquisition
of traditional keys, passwords, tokens or other physical access
devices.
Data Science: As a final point, today’s digital transformation
and the modern mechanisms of physical and logical security are
producing a steady and growing flow of information. Increasingly,
this data is being leveraged for analysis to make security
operations more eœ icient and eœ ective. Data creates context
around human behaviours and patterns of activity, whether in a
physical space or in a network. These insights help to highlight
anomalies, empowering security professionals to more quickly
identify or predict abnormal behaviours.
As artificial intelligence and machine-learning technologies
are woven into the fabric of trusted identity solutions across the
physical and digital security continuum, they will optimise the
accuracy of threat detection and prediction. These technologies
are already improving the performance and accuracy of biometric
solutions and are detecting financial fraud and enabling predictive
physical security. As organisations commit to react more quickly
and precisely to mitigate threats and user needs, data science will
oœ icially occupy a central position in security.
THE PERIMETER PROTECTION SOLUTIONS
PROVIDER’S VIEW
ALEXANDRA WELLER, HERAS KEY ACCOUNT MANAGER
The next generation of
perimeter intrusion detection
systems (PIDSs) is already
being rolled out to significantly
increase the level of perimeter
protection for sites ranging
from ones of national or
strategic importance through
to warehousing hubs, data
centres, food processing
and distribution centres,
healthcare facilities, and more.
The two leading PIDSs are
GeoMic and GeoPoint. GeoMic
(the so-called listening fence)
uses a discreet microphonic sensor cable that listens for sounds
– such as those generated from an intrusion attempt – around
the entire perimeter. And the GeoPoint sensor system utilises
multiple sensors that are distributed along the fence line
to detect movement and vibration. This enables moreaccurate
visual verification of an intrusion when used
in conjunction with video security management.
Both solutions are playing a pivotal role in
speeding up the time in which onsite security teams
(or designated staœ ) can verify and act upon an
alarm when it is triggered.
In terms of maintenance and support, good
suppliers will oœ er a multi-layered approach. The first
layer will be the use of cloud-based portals that oœ er
real-time insights into the status and performance of
perimeter and entrance control systems. This includes all
site entrance points, such as swing, sliding and bi-fold gates, as
well as remote monitoring of user access and automatic alerts and
notifications via smartphone, tablet or PC.
The speed at which the cyber and physical worlds are converging
makes our industry a very exciting space right now. Speaking as
Europe’s leading end-to-end supplier of permanent and mobile
perimeter protection solutions, we believe that the demand to
secure sites physically (with fencing, gates, turnstiles, barriers, etc.)
is only set to continue.
But that hasn’t stopped us from embracing new technology by
building ground-breaking alliances with both technology partners
and high-level security contractors to develop a cohesive approach
Mat t Winn
Alexandra Weller
The security and identity
industry must evolve to meet
emerging challenges and
expectations of a workplace that is
everywhere now that the future
of work is here.”
Matt Winn