In the field of access control, face recognition has come a long way. Facial recognition technology, once considered too slow to verify people's identities and credentials under high traffic conditions, has evolved into one of the fastest and most effective access control authentication solutions in any industry.
However, another reason the technology is gaining traction is the rapidly growing demand for contactless access control solutions that can help mitigate the spread of disease in public spaces.

Facial recognition eliminates security risks and is nearly impossible to counterfeit
Modern facial recognition technology meets all the criteria to be the go-to solution for frictionless access control. It provides an accurate, non-intrusive method to verify the identity of high-traffic areas, including multi-tenant office buildings, industrial sites and factories with daily shifts.
Typical electronic access control systems rely on people presenting physical credentials, such as proximity cards, key fobs or Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones, all of which can be misplaced, lost or stolen. Facial recognition eliminates these security risks and is nearly impossible to counterfeit.

Affordable Biometric Options

While there are other biometric tools available, facial recognition offers significant advantages. For example, some technologies use hand geometry or iris scanning, but these options are generally slower and more expensive. This makes facial recognition a natural application for everyday access control activities, including recording the time and attendance of large workforces on construction sites, warehouses, and agricultural and mining operations.

In addition to verifying personal credentials, facial recognition can also identify whether an individual is wearing a face covering in accordance with government or company health and safety protocols. In addition to securing physical location, facial recognition can also be used to manage access to computers and specialized devices and appliances.

Unique numeric identifier

The next step involves associating the faces captured in the video recordings with their unique digital descriptors in their files. The system can compare newly captured images to a large database of known individuals or faces captured from video streams.

Facial recognition technology can provide multi-factor authentication, searching watchlists for certain types of characteristics, such as age, hair color, gender, ethnicity, facial hair, glasses, headgear and other identifying characteristics, including bald spots.

Strong encryption

SED-compatible drives rely on a dedicated chip that encrypts data using AES-128 or AES-256

In support of privacy concerns, encryption and a secure login process is employed throughout the system to prevent unauthorized access to databases and archives.

Additional layers of encryption are available through the use of self-encrypting drives (SEDs) that hold video recordings and metadata. SED-compatible drives rely on specialized chips that encrypt data using AES-128 or AES-256 (short for Advanced Encryption Standard).

Anti-Spoofing Protections

How do facial recognition systems deal with people trying to trick the system by wearing a costume mask or holding up a picture to hide their face?

For example, FaceX from the ISS includes anti-spoofing features that primarily check the "liveness" of a given face. The algorithm can easily flag the flat, two-dimensional nature of face masks, printed photos, or cellphone images, and alert them of "spoofing."

Increase entry speed

Integrating facial recognition into existing access control systems is simple and affordable

Integrating facial recognition into existing access control systems is simple and affordable. The system can operate with off-the-shelf security cameras and computers. Users can also utilize existing infrastructure to maintain architectural aesthetics.

The face recognition system can complete the detection and recognition process in an instant, and it takes less than 500 milliseconds to open a door or gate. This efficiency can eliminate the time associated with security personnel manually reviewing and managing credentials.

An important tool

Modern facial recognition solutions are infinitely scalable to accommodate global enterprises. As a result, facial recognition as a credential is increasingly being used in a wide range of applications that go beyond traditional access control and physical security, including health security and workforce management.

All of these features make facial recognition a natural, frictionless solution for managing access control, both in terms of performance and cost