How does Card-Connected Access Control work?
In a Card-Connected physical access control system, cardholders carry their access privileges and retrieve log events from Card-Connected locks using smart cards. When a cardholder presents their card to enter a facility in the morning, privileges are written to their card and any logs from the previous day are submitted to the PACS. This is accomplished at selected readers that have been upgraded to support smart cards, typically at the main entry points to a facility. When visiting Card-Connected locks later in the day, the privileges are transferred to the lock and the latest logs are picked up by the card.
Like any other communication network, the integrity of the data carried on the smart cards and its source must be trusted. Without a proven layer of security, the system would be vulnerable to attacks where cardholder access privileges could be altered, cards cloned or counterfeited, and access policies on the locks compromised. CoreStreet’s Card-Connected technology applies industry proven cryptography to provide the highest level of assurance. All Card-Connected privilege data is digitally signed. Before providing access, each Card-Connected lock validates the digital signature to prove that the card was issued by the PACS, a “trusted source,” and that the access privileges on the card were not altered.
