BIOMETRICS
Eye of the beholder
The role of campus biometrics by Mohammed Murad, vice president global development and sales for Iris ID
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iometrics are changing the way higher education campuses handle a variety of tasks, from securing buildings to making bookstore purchases. The results are increased convenience, lower costs and greater satisfaction among all campus stakeholders. But let’s first take a look at what biometrics are replacing. For decades, colleges and universities secured doors with mechanical locks
26 | February 2020 | IN SECURITY
and keys. Although they create an effective barrier, they have major flaws. Keys can be lost or stolen. They can be copied again and again. It is even possible to take a photograph of a high-security key on a police officer’s belt to produce a perfect copy using a 3-D printer. Once a lock’s security has been compromised, it must be rekeyed in an expensive and time-intensive process. And then new keys must be cut and distributed.
Key management can be a nightmare on a large campus with thousands of doors. Multiply that by tens of thousands of keys in the hands of students, faculty and staff and the margin for error grows exponentially. Within the last decade, campus administrators began trumpeting a one-card system. That uses plastic cards to replace keys and much more. The same cards that opened students’ dorm rooms could also be
