In a busy and chaotic hub where security and safety is top of mind, keep passengers out of restricted areas and know where staff are at a glance.
Anti-Passback
Stop credential sharing in its tracks
It's a common courtesy in our society to hold a door open for a colleague or to lend an access card to someone who has forgotten theirs. It’s often seen as the polite thing to do, but the act of 'passback' is not only a security risk, it's potentially leaving money at the door for small businesses.
Anti-passback is a feature that can be used to prevent users from passing their credential back for another user to borrow and to stop users entering an area by simply following or tailgating another user.
Anti-passback results in accurate area counting and muster reporting and can be combined with many other features found in Protege to fulfil high security requirements.
Like 80% of companies, you can spend thousands a year on guards, cameras, and signage to stop people from passing back credentials.
Or you can use the built-in and free anti-passback function in Protege WX and Protege GX.
What is Anti-Passback?
If the meaning of passback is passing back a credential, then anti-passback stops this from happening. It's a programmable function in Protege WX and Protege GX that tracks which area each user is in and can be set for the whole building or just some areas.
When a user requests access to an area, the system checks whether the area they were last in matches the area they’re trying to enter or exit. If the user meets the criteria, then they’re granted access.
If the credential is used to try and enter the same area twice, or to an area not directly linked with their last logged area, then anti-passback violation rules start. So, if Emily is trying to access a storeroom off the lobby, she needs to have last badged into the lobby.
Anti-passback is available with ICT's proximity and smart cards, fobs, and mobile credentials.
Types of Anti-Passback
Soft anti-passback
The user is granted access through the door, but an event is recorded in the log. This allows managers to deal with the violation without interrupting the normal flow of traffic making it a good option for common interior doors or low security areas.
Hard anti-passback
When a violation of the anti-passback rules occur, the user is denied access through the door and cannot gain access until they reset their status in their current area – i.e. the user would have to badge into the area they’re currently in. An event will be logged showing they were denied access because of an anti passback violation. This option prevents people from accessing areas they shouldn’t be and is a good option for high security or hazardous areas.
Passback vs. Tailgating
While passback and tailgating are similar, they are two different problems with different solutions. Rather than having a card passed back to them, when someone is tailgating they are closely following the person in front of them in order to get through the door or gate without having to badge or pay. This is often mitigated by turnstiles, revolving doors, and swing gates, with common examples including subway stations and commercial buildings.
Key Benefits
Keep your money in your pocket
No need to spend thousands on guards, cameras, or ineffective signs to ensure people aren't sharing their credentials.
Keep restricted areas secure
Mitigate the inherent risk of restricted areas, such as labs or computer rooms. Hard anti-passback rules ensure that only users with the right credentials can access these areas.
Precise whereabouts in an emergency
Mitigate chaos in an emergency by knowing who's in the building and where they are quickly.
Accurate attendance reports
Keeping accurate reports is crucial for health & safety, ensuring your premises is never over-capacity, and being able to show stakeholders who's coming and going from your site.
Use Cases
With so many diverse applications, anti-passback can be used in a wide variety of industries.
Student and staff safety is your number one priority. Keep accurate attendance records and track where people are during emergencies.
Ensure people aren't sharing memberships and keep accurate records. Integrate your access control with the same app that your customers book classes with using ICT's Mobile SDK.
Protect patients, visitors, and staff by preventing those without proper training from entering restricted or dangerous areas, while also keeping accurate records for audit reports.
Ensure people aren't accessing areas they shouldn't by keeping high-security restricted or hazardous areas like pharmaceutical labs and prisons secure.
Warehouses & Storage Facilities
Keep everyone and everything safe and secure. Use the long-distance transmitter so you only need one device for multiple doors and gates.
Easily stop guests from re-entering the park or from sharing tickets with others and meet compliance for accurate guest numbers in one solution.
With detailed records of how many people are using your facilities or volunteering for your organizations, securing funding has never been easier.
How Does an Anti-Passback System Work?
Anti-passback works by tracking which area each user is in. If a user attempts to re-enter the same area, or tries to gain access to an area that is not directly linked to their last logged area then anti-passback violation rules are invoked.
Depending on configuration, this can simply raise an alarm and allow access or can completely block access for the user. Access is restored once the user legitimately exits their last logged area, or can be reset based on a timer or time of day.
Anti-passback requires entry and exit readers on all access points to the controlled area. Protege's support for Wiegand reader Multiplexing and ICT's RS-485 reader Multidropping means that you still only need one reader port per door, even with entry and exit readers.
Anti-passback can be enabled for a single area, or the whole site. It can even be scheduled or controlled to be used at certain times or based on other conditions, such as threat level.
Setting Up Anti-Passback
Anti-passback is configured in 9 easy steps. Watch this video to see how simple it is.
To learn more about anti-passback and how it can be programmed, check out Application Note AN-337: Configuring Anti-Passback in Protege GX
Anti-passback in Protege WX follows the same instructions, however anti-passback in Protege WX requires advanced mode to be enabled - which is as simple as completing your Protege WX certification. And the good news? Protege WX training is now free! Get started on becoming a Protege WXpert and gaining the benefits of anti-passback!
