West Midlands Police is conducting trials of a smartcard-based security system covering entry to buildings and IT network access.

The system integrates physical access systems from suppliers Imprivata and Lenel to provide location-based authentication, linking an employee’s building security to the network and applications. It will allow the force to use smartcards, fingerprint biometrics and one-time password tokens for two-factor network authentication.

The three-month trial covers two buildings, 400 people and eight applications, and will be implemented by the end of October. All staff will carry a smartcard and only have to remember one password. If successful, the system will be rolled out to 15,000 staff across the region.

Fred Tracey, support manager at West Midlands Police, says the technology will improve security and save time.

‘One of our biggest assets is data, so we have to be able to restrict access both to getting into a building and accessing applications,’ said Tracey.

‘Our data is anything from restricted to top secret. We want to authenticate at the first point of entry to our organisation, and then continue that authentication and audit trail into access to data as well.’

Tracey estimates that controlling physical and network access in West Midlands Police takes up about 10,000 man hours a year.

‘With a full rollout of that system we think we can reduce to a third of that figure, and get more bobbies out on the street,’ he said.

The system will also control remote access, which at the moment requires four passwords.

Tracey says data leakage has not been a problem for the force, but the information held is valuable and includes personal records, financial data, criminal lists and sex offenders’ registers.

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