Photo ID Badges - 10 Features Of Modern Name Badges That Add Security
By Ven North
When you are in charge of deciding the level of security of your organization, be it a company, a non-profit, or a government department, the advancements of secure technologies are constantly making your job in providing additional security elements to your photo ID badges and to your entire ID system easier and easier.
But you must stay on top of the developments in modern photo id badge systems to always be one step ahead of the potential forgers of the security systems that you are responsible for. Photo ID badges are a great step ahead in making the identification of the employees, members, or personnel easy and effective.
In this article we will describe ten security features of photo ID badges that, when deployed simultaneously, will raise the level of security of the photo badges in your organization tremendously. The security elements of these ID badges are: Photo, Linear and 2D Bar code, Color, Shadow image, Hologram, Finger print, Smart card, Contactless smart card, Read only RFID chip.
Element 1: Photo
Adding the photo is the first obvious element in increasing security. When a photo is added securely to the ID badges, it enables easy and instant identification of the subject by safeguards.
Element 2: Bar code
Bar codes are effective when your places of business, or buildings have optical scanners for security badges identification purposes. Bar codes are relatively easily and quickly read using laser scanners or optical scanners under proper conditions.
Element 3: 2D "dot code"
2D bar code is not unlike the one dimensional, or linear bar code, with the exception of the fact that the 2D bar code (actually more alike the "dot code") can hold much more pertinent information than the linear bar code. 2D dot code requires specialized 2D dot code optical readers.
Element 4: Color
By adding a large patch of color, different levels of security clearances can be simply encoded into the card which will make them easily recognizable to humans in bright daylight.
Element 5: Shadow image
Adding a shadow image of the photo to the card increases the difficulty of forgery.
Element 6: Hologram
Adding a company-specific or organization-specific hologram to the ID card increases the difficulty of forgery substantially provided that the access to the printing machine is secured as well.
Element 7: Finger print and other biometrics
Adding finger print, or image of the retina to the ID badge will improve the security. However, the retina scanners are rare, and it is difficult to verify the match quickly.
Element 8: Smart card
Smart cards are chips embedded into the ID badge which contain encoded information. They are readable on contact, as opposed to contactless smart cards.
Element 9: Contactless smart card
Contactless smart cards enable a security check with no contact needed. They are extremely useful in companies where employees must constantly move between the secured rooms and buildings and can not be stopped or paused to verify their clearance or identity.
Element 10: Read only RFID chip
RFID chips are effective because they are inexpensive. They work on the same principle as the contactless smart cards but can not change their status once encoded.
To discover more about the name badge software that can manage the photo ID badges security features and more, see http://idcardsoftware.org.
For more info on security measures implemented in security ID badges, see photo ID software.
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