Intelligence community invests in smart cards for physical access control
The intelligence community’s venture capital arm is investing in an access control system that leverages digital certificates on smart cards for stand-alone electronic locks. The Card-Connected system developed by CoreStreet allows the locks to authenticate digital credentials and enforce access policy without being networked. The smart card is presented to a reader at a stand-alone electronic lock which contains access policies for the location. Identity is verified by the card’s digital certificate, and the card also can contain data on access privileges. Log data about the transaction is written to the card. In a typical deployment, the same card also would be used to gain access to the main entrance of a facility. In-Q-Tel is an independent company set up by the CIA to invest in commercial development of technologies that could be used by the intelligence community. ![[end]](/resources/bullet/secureidnews-4.gif)
