In today’s digital and connected World, securing electronic data and networks is as important as securing access to physical assets such as building and facilities. Password-based access is now widely acknowledged to be a significant security risk and many organisations, across all industries, are using multi-factor authentication to grant access to data. Multi-factor can be a combination of something you know (i.e. a password) with something you have (an authenticated smart card) and something you are (a biometric such as fingerprint). Cards can support all of these authentication methods, with all factors contained on the chip of a single card, enabling flexible, secure and private access to data and networks.

Time and attendance systems are used to record when employees start and stop work, and often the department where the work is undertaken. Tracking of breaks, lunch-breaks, vacation time and sickness absence is also commonplace. Traditional paper-based or password-based tracking systems which are open to compromise are being replaced by electronic systems, often using cards containing electronic data. Multi-application smart cards that are used to grant access to physical and logical resources can also be used to track attendance using a range of technologies from a basic (but insecure) magnetic stripe to Ultra High Frequency proximity systems that track employees’ whereabouts whenever they are within the building.