Next Generation Standalone Electronic Locks

Kaba and CoreStreet told Zalud’s Blog of a partnership to enable true convergence of physical and logical security systems. Using CoreStreet’s technology, Kaba will offer one physical access control system (PACS) to comply with Federal Information Processing Standard-201 (FIPS-201) and will be introducing another that works with CoreStreet’s patented Card-Connected technology. Both systems are currently in field testing and will be generally available early next year.

 

To increase the level of security across all government infrastructure, as required by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12) and defined in the FIPS-201, the Kaba E-Plex 5800 PACS is an electronic standalone locking system designed to provide physical access using FIPS-201 compliant smart cards.

 

“A key goal of FIPS-201 involves the interoperability of credentials across logical and physical domains. Our collaboration allows FIPS-201 credentials to be used immediately across any federal enterprise and importantly extends the use of these credentials beyond the current range of electronic access control solutions,” said CoreStreet CEO Chris Broderick.

 

Kaba E-Plex 5800 PACS uses CoreStreet to enable FIPS-201 compliant smart cards

The Kaba E-Plex 5800 PACS is CoreStreet-Enabled™ to perform all required verification steps when a FIPS-201 cardholder is enrolled, including:

 

·        Authenticating the cardholder with multiple factors;

 

·        Verifying the cardholder’s certificate by checking data integrity, expiration date and that the digital signature is from a trusted government authority;

 

·        Checking revocation at enrollment and continually from that point forward; and

 

·        Performing a public key infrastructure (PKI) challenge-response for strong card authentication.

 

Once enrolled, FIPS cardholders access E-Plex 5800 locks as permitted by the access policy set in the head-end software. The locks are designed to replace standard door locks as an alternative to wired access points, making installation simple and cost effective.

 

Kaba E-Plex 5900 electronic locks use CoreStreet’s Card-Connected Technology

A key challenge with traditional standalone electronic locking systems is that they are not integrated with head-end PACS, and therefore must be managed separately with frequent visits by security personnel to provide access list updates. CoreStreet technology addresses that challenge by enabling the addition of standalone electronic locks to PACS, even in the most secure settings and leveraging cardholders to carry updates to the locks.

 

In developing the Kaba E-Plex 5900 electronic locks with CoreStreet’s Card-Connected technology, users will centrally manage access points anywhere in the organization and cut the cost of electronic access control per door by more than half. The locking systems are managed and monitored in physical access control systems, just like wired doors, but require no wiring or wireless communication networks. The locks communicate with commercially-available physical access control systems by reading and writing digitally signed data (privileges and logs) to and from smart cards. In this way, cardholders become an extension of the physical access network where cards, instead of wires, carry information to and from the locks.