By Mary Catherine O'Connor

Don't be surprised if, in the near future, you need a key card and a smile to gain entry into your workplace. Security experts say that some smart cards, which have embedded RFID tags, can be easily cloned. An unauthorized person can tap a cloned card to a reader and stroll into an office building or other facility. But security system providers are a step ahead of the hackers. They are combining RFID with video and biometric technology to make security systems safer and even identify potential wrongdoers.

Unisys, a technology consulting and services provider, is testing a security system called TetraGate, developed by epcSolutions, at its Center of Excellence demonstration facility in Reston, Va. Approximately 100 employees have been issued personnel badges that include passive, UHF RFID inlays compliant with the EPCglobal Gen 2 standard. The tags are susceptible to cloning, but the system accounts for that, as well as the possibility that someone might try to enter a facility with a stolen card.

At the entrance to the Reston facility, there is a network of Gen 2 interrogators and a network of surveillance cameras. As a Unisys employee nears the entrance, an interrogator reads the ID number encoded to the badge, which is attached to a lanyard and worn around the neck, and a camera snaps a picture of the employee. Facial recognition software compares the ID and photo with data and a digital image of the employee stored in a database. If there's a match, the door opens. If not, the security system could send an alert to a computer monitor mounted at a security guard's desk.