Farpointe Data has just posted the first radio frequency identification(RFID) Cybersecurity Vulnerability Checklist for access control manufacturers, distributors, integrators and end users to use to protect their access control systems from becoming hacker gateways to their facilities and IT systems. Knowing what to do is especially important now that government agencies, such as the United States Federal Trade Commission, have begun filing lawsuits against businesses that do not provide good cybersecurity practices.
“Seemingly daily, end users are being reminded of how their access control systems are no longer secure,” emphasises Farpointe Data President Scott Lindley. “They learn how a hotel had to pay a ransom to release guests that got locked into their rooms via a hack of the electronic key system or how easy it is to spoof popular access cards.”
Since the start of 2017, end users have been informed of a series of hacks on various credentials states Lindley. Farpointe cites such examples as the Chaos Computer Club, who stated that they “hacked a padlock product and its accompanying mobile app which communicates via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to the padlock; and IPVM reported how a $30 copier easily spoofed a popular proximity card; and finally In an on-site demonstration at the ShmooCon hacker conference, an ESP Key, a small device that costs about $100 to make and has half a dozen wire clamps, a Wifi transmitter and 4MB of memory, showed that it takes two or three minutes to break into an RFID card reader wall plate, attach the ESP Key and reinstall the wall plate to capture the ID codes of everyone in the workplace.
To help prevent such attacks, the new Farpointe Cybersecurity Vulnerability Checklist covers a range of topics that can lead to hacks of contactless cards and readers. Sections include default codes, Wiegand issues, reader implementation tips, card protection solutions, leveraging long range readers, assuring anti-hacking compatibility throughout the system and leveraging additional security components.
“We are encouraging every access control manufacturer, dealer, distributor, integrator or end user to go to our website to either download or print out this Cybersecurity Vulnerability Checklist and use it,” adds Lindsey. “The link is available right on our home page. With increasing news stories of hacking throughout the world and the fact government agencies are now reviewing such cyber security lapses should make channel partners providing access control products and systems take notice and implement anti-hacking solutions, such as Farpointe provides, to their customers.”
