Recognizing the future of access with a glance
What is facial recognition?
Facial recognition is a biometric authentication technology that has developed from a science fiction idea to being a widespread security and access tool. It is a detection technology that uses biometrics to identify and confirm an individual's face for various functions that require identification or authentication.
Biometric technology has become increasingly sophisticated over the years, breaking through years of controversy and pushbacks to be a more and more accurate and regulated authentication and identification technology.
Where is facial recognition used?
The most common involvement the technology has had, has been within security and law enforcement. Most of all it has played an important role over years when identifying criminals, being a vital digital tool for high security bodies. Identifying suspects through CCTV footage and matching faces up to police databases through facial biometric patterns and data. INTERPOL’s facial recognition system is classed as a unique global criminal database that has identified almost 1,500 terrorists, criminals, fugitives, persons of interest or missing persons since its set up in 2016.
One of the most obvious developments in the technology over recent years has been with its introduction into smartphones. Being the next biometric technology implemented to unlock phones replacing the fingerprint scanner, it is much more reliable, quick, and ultimately more user friendly. Some benefits associated from the technology that make it ideal for other forms of access control, including building access management!
Companies such as Apple and Samsung have successfully brought the once distant futuristic technology into people’s hands. Regarding how fail-safe this technology is for smartphone authentication, Apple say that the probability of a random person getting into your phone using their face is 1 in a million.
The technology is constantly evolving rapidly. Healthcare centres are using it for patient protection from the ability to identify patients when they go out of site. Additionally, hotels are seeing potential for improved concierge service and amenity services through the technology.
A person’s face can even now be used to authenticate digital payments online. Furthermore, Visa are working with financial institutions and merchants to use facial biometric authentication as a point of sale technology meaning customers don’t have to get their wallet or phone out, they just select the pay-with-a-glance option at a stores self-checkout. First set out in Russia, 70% of Visa’s customers are set to rely on face payments. This shows just how reliant of a technology it is today.
Recognising the future of access control
Currently, buildings all over the world are stuck with 'clunky', but perfectly functional access control systems - think the keycards and card readers you probably use to get into your buildings every day. Until now, the only way businesses have been able to upgrade that technology to work with smartphones or other forms of keyless entry has been to rip it all out and install new, bespoke readers, which (typically) work via Bluetooth. It's expensive, a hassle to upgrade, disruptive, and above all unnecessary.
Sentry Interactive’s integration with Doordeck leverages innovative SaaS solutions to create socially sustainable and secure built environments. The Sentry Interactive Tower pioneers a new approach to keyless entry, that uses NFC technology and facial recognition to seamlessly unlock doors. The frictionless experience means that no keycard or fob is required, and neither is a smartphone.
How does facial recognition work for access control?
On approach to the Sentry Interactive Tower, its camera scans the person's face. Since the person has been pre-credentialed via the customer's policy, the facial map is verified with the person standing in front of the Tower. Once verified, which should take less than 3 seconds, access to the facility opens up, the maglock or strike lock releases and door unlocks and the person can enter.
The facial map is built up from photos of the user and is completely unique, like a person’s fingerprint. The camera interface reads data points to form a facial map to build an access profile of a user which as well as providing entry, includes background credentials such as health documents and the spaces they have access to. As the access profiles are built with facial mapping software users photos are not stored.
Fraudulent security risks associated around the authentication process with facial recognition technology are also stamped out with the camera’s built-in AI face recognition engine. This prevents spoofing through liveness detection that recognises facial attributes including age, gender, mood and head orientation eliminating risks of biometric fraud.
Facial recognition for visitor management?
Doordeck’s cloud-based access control software seamlessly integrates with the Sentry Interactive Tower facial recognition feature that provides the fastest, most reliable and secure door entry. On top of this, it brings its visitor management system to work alongside this revolutionary access feature. A visitor has the option to use facial recognition, smartphone NFC or scan a QR code. All three of these touchless technologies eliminate the use of physical door passes along with the security risks and costs associated with them. The access method visitors will use to enter a building or space will depend on the reason and regularity of which they are going there for. Through Doordeck’s cloud infrastructure the digital passes can be credentialed remotely by building admins. Each pass is also unique to the visitor due to the ability to control the time duration the pass is active for, this further enhances a building’s security.
Facial recognition for complete secure keyless entry
The integration of Doordeck’s keyless door access control platform into the Sentry Interactive Tower helps to eliminate potential physical risks to front line teams and their facilities. With the secure exchange of sensitive access data through facial recognition biometrics or alternatively using NFC technology and built-in smartphone security, breaches of building facilities are prevented across all types of sites and employee safety is ensured. Additionally, security cannot be compromised from lost or stolen credentials, the face is the most secure digital key out there.
Sentry Interactive and Doordeck’s market-leading hardware, cloud infrastructure and cutting-edge technology provides cost-effective, scalable, and secure building and access management to future-proof any building.
