Re: ibutton door access control

[Nigel Orr <nigel.orr@xxxxxxx>]

At 10:12 31/03/00 GMT, you wrote:
>In all this whizzy stuff about about ibutton door access control, has
>anybody stopped to think about the obvious (to me anyway) problem with
this
>whole scenario, which is namely: how much more likely is it that you'd
>"lose" your keys, rather than have someone steal them in an
effort to get
>into your house?

That's why I was suggesting the 'hidden key'- you can make it much more
secure than a traditional key under a mat, flowerpot or whatever, so it's
only activated when you would expect to come home anyway- you might have to
wait 1/2 hour till you can get in, but you don't need to call a locksmith.

>How exactly does having a flashy, secure, personalised ibutton improve
upon
>this situation?

You don't have to replace the locks when you have lost the key, just
program it to be ignored in future.  That's quite an improvement.  And it
can be interfaced to the security system as well, either so it disarms the
system as you unlock the door, or so it reduces the security of the door
lock for a short period after you disarm.

>you, and if you leave the house in the morning and forget to take it
with
>you (can happen!) - you're stuffed!

How did you lock the house?

>with no ibutton, and no way of gaining access to your own house!

Same as a standard lock, but with the potential for many improvements to
make it better.

>In my view, the ONLY way forward for conditional access control has got
to
>be based on one of the various biometric recognition technologies.

I'll give them a few years- anyone who wants to be on the leading edge of
new security systems is welcome, anyone who keeps an eye on news:comp.risks
and similar will probably hold off a little... the banks are one group keen
on reliable IDs, and whatever they use will inevitably be cheap, and the
likely risks are often quickly made clear.  Worth watching what replaces
your PIN number!

>Now, how are you going to ever "forget" to come home with
your face!??

And when the software, for whatever reason fails to recognise you (due to
facial injury, odd lighting, faulty camera etc etc)?  And software is not
perfect, remember?  What do you do then?  Obviously you don't carry a key
any more, so you have absolutely no way to prove to your house that it
should let you in.  No thanks.

Obviously this is an issue with the iButton or similar non-biometric
systems, but the complexity of software for _reliable_ biometric
identification is much greater than that to control a more conventional
access device.

There's a cheapish system out there which allows you to use your existing
credit cards for access control- quite a good idea- if they've got my
credit cards, having a break-in would probably only be a small part of the
problem :).  But no, I won't be buying that system either...

Nigel


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