ACCESS CONTROL/Fingerprint ID program ends password problems
For Michael Sherwood, fingerprint scanning has been a real time saver. As IT director for Oceanside, Calif., he attends to the computer needs of more than 1,000 city employees, each of whom has a different password and security level.
“People forget their passwords,” he says. “A large percentage of calls to the help desk involve a lost password. So [fingerprint scanning] has improved our overall security and has added an extra layer of security. Forgetting passwords is one thing, but losing data is expensive, especially if you cannot recover it.”
The city has been using a fingerprint scanning system — consisting of software and a scanner — from Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Identix. Originally, it deployed the product in a 1999 pilot program, and it expanded use two or three departments at a time.
Before installing the software at existing employee workstations, IT staff members did what Sherwood refers to as “pre-marketing”: they sent employees information about the product to educate them and ease concerns.
The software features an enrollment tutorial to assist employees in establishing their fingerprint “passwords.” The employee types in a password at the Windows logon prompt and then accesses the fingerprint software. The tutorial prompts the employee to scan his finger once and then again for verification. He then types in his password to authenticate the finger impression.
In addition to eliminating the problem of lost passwords, the biometric logon combats shared passwords. “In the past, some employees who did not have access to the Internet or did not have access to a certain part of the server borrowed passwords and computers from their coworkers. That’s a problem,” Sherwood says.
Because of the IT staff’s premarketing efforts, employees accepted the new security measures with ease. “There was very little resistance [to the fingerprint scanning system] from the staff. In the beginning, some employees were worried that we could recreate their fingerprints, but we assured them that was not the case,” Sherwood notes. “Reaction has been positive. And the staff reaction coupled with the easy installation has resulted in a smooth transition.”
— Jeanne Bonner, associate editor of Access Control & Security Systems Integration, a sister publication of American City & County