Welcome to the rf IDEAS blog. Here, you’ll find our insights, trend information and guidance on a wide range of identification and authentication-related topics. Our authors are experts at rf IDEAS as well as partners and guests bloggers who bring their own perspectives. Browse, learn and enjoy.
Secure Logical Access for the Commercial Enterprise: Simple Solutions for an Urgent Need
More than 1,000 data breaches have been reported in a single year In the United States at an average cost of $3.92 million each in losses and fines.1 Up to 88% of UK companies suffered data breaches in a single year at an average cost of £2.85 million. Successful hacks of small businesses in the UK occurred every 19 seconds.2
2021 Was the Year of New Technologies
Let’s get it out of the way: it’s impossible to talk about 2021 without talking about how companies responded to the pandemic. It has presented challenges and upended numerous business models, and the RFID industry isn’t any different. But 2021 also saw some amazing technological developments, especially when it comes to our WAVE ID® technology, innovations in applications and form factors, and the continuing explosion of mobile, MFA and BLE technology.
Responding to the New MFA Mandate
On May 12, 2021, President Joe Biden signed an executive order mandating the Federal Government to partner with the private sector in a multipronged campaign to protect the government agencies, private enterprises and American people against the threat of increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks.
Anyone who follows the news can understand why—and especially why now.
Touchless Technology for a Healthy Workplace
The coronavirus crisis demands a rapid response to protect essential workers. RimotHEALTH’s new contactless entry-screening and attendance-tracking kiosk, featuring rf IDEAS® technology, will be improving workplace safety long after the current crisis has passed.
Contact Tracing Software Puts Partnership on the Fast Track
Contactless attendance tracking software and authentication solutions are already playing a critical role in office environments, schools (related article here) and healthcare facilities. Recently, a major healthcare provider engaged rf IDEAS® and partner World Wide Technology (WWT) to implement a contact tracing solution across 800 locations serving thousands of employees… all in four weeks.
Information Is One Thing, Action Is Another
Our friends and partners at Imprivata recently completed a survey of healthcare executives, association members and CIOs to better understand how COVID-19 has directly affected their individual organizations’ Identity Management solutions. After reading through the results and analysis from the Imprivata team (related article found here), I would like to share what we at rf IDEAS have been doing to support Imprivata’s new efforts.
Technology Trends 2021: 5 Hot Topics to Look for in the RFID Industry
While 2020 will be remembered as the year we all worked from home, 2021 promises a return to productivity with workplaces reopening and authentication technologies shifting to meet new demands.
FIDO2 and WAVE ID® Readers: Fewer Passwords, Greater Security
Take a quick peek at your to-do list. Chances are, changing or strengthening your password(s) is not at the top of the list. And while it’s understandable that we all have other priorities, the downside of weak or stolen passwords is the potential for damaging and costly data breaches.
Touch-Free Secure Print for Businesses Returning to the Workplace
The current pandemic has forced virtually every organization on the planet to transform their approaches to workplace productivity. As a vaccine starts to become a reality, many of the world’s leading companies are already focused on back-to-office strategies and long-term planning for safer on-site operations.
The advantages and misconceptions of biometric authentication
With the upcoming release of our WAVE ID® Bio reader, rf IDEAS now offers an all-in-one solution for multi-factor authentication that’s both super secure and super easy. It provides a biometric fingerprint reader, a Bluetooth® Low Energy mobile credential reader and a proximity/smart card reader in one sleek, modern, plug-and-play device that only consumes one USB port.
Simplifying School Contact Tracing with Help from i-Attend and rf IDEAS
Event and attendance tracking plays an important role across educational settings. Students use identity cards and mobile credentials for classroom attendance, equipment check-out, accessing the library or school bus, meal plans and secure entry and access across campus facilities.
Three New RFID Reseller Insights for a Different World.
Time flies. It’s been two and a half years since I shared Three Insights for a Successful RFID Reseller with rf IDEAS for publication on their blog. Readership has been strong, and the relationship between rf IDEAS and Windmill Computing has continued to grow over the years, for which I’m grateful. But I’m often asked, “What has changed since then?”
The Future of Identity Access Management (IAM) in Healthcare
In this interview, Wright explains how Imprivata and rf IDEAS collaborate on new authentication technologies to bring unsurpassed efficiency and security to busy healthcare environments.
Choose Mobile Access for Simple, Safe and Secure Multi-Factor Authentication
As the logical access control pioneer and long-time leader, rf IDEAS is laser-focused on the opportunities for mobile access. Our WAVE ID® Mobile Readers work with today’s most widely used mobile credentials—including HID® Mobile Access, Orange Business Services Pack ID and Safetrust Wallet—while simultaneously supporting virtually every proximity and smartcard technology used worldwide.
Working From Home Is Suddenly in Style. Working Safely Always Has Been. Here’s How to Do It.
Username and password schemes bring multiple risks, from weak and stolen passwords to shared keyboards that can spread pathogens. rf IDEAS has simple suggestions for avoiding these threats while enabling users to be more productive—at home and in the office.
EPCS and 2FA: Authentication on the Frontlines of the Opioid Crisis
As we all know, the long, national nightmare known as the opioid crisis continues to drag on across the U.S. According to a recent American Psychiatric Association poll, nearly one of three Americans knows someone addicted to some form of opioid. And, according to the CDC, on average, 130 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose.
IAM is now a Top 10 Strategic Priority for State Governments
When it comes to IAM, state governments are concerned about managing access for both their employees and the citizens they serve. According to Doug Robinson, NASCIO’s executive director, “enterprise IAM approaches and solutions are gaining more traction in the states and are essential for managing secure employee access and supporting digital government platforms for citizens.”
No Single Badge to Rule Them All
User badge authentication should simplify lives and wallets – not add an additional layer of complexity.
How to securely improve access control in healthcare
With more than 60% of the world’s population owning a mobile phone, business use of smartphones has become ubiquitous for the workforce around the world.
Healthcare for Hospital Keyboards — What’s Lurking in the Crevices of Your Hospital’s Keyboards?
Healthcare workers’ hands often come into contact with blood, secretions, and many other substances in the course of a workday. These substances can be easily spread to the computer keyboard as clinicians input information, review doctor’s orders and navigate application screens. Moreover, keyboards are notoriously hard to clean because bacteria can become lodged beneath and between keys, and in areas that are hard to reach and disinfect.
Drowning in Passwords? You're Not Alone. 5 Reasons Your Business Should Sign on to SSO
When passwords first came into vogue in the early 1960s as a way to secure computers, we couldn’t envision the many ways they’re being used today.
Identity Access Management and the State of CISOs: Where We Are Now
State governments are the guardians of valuable, sensitive data about their citizens, their employees and their operations. From tax and voter information to employee credentials and department files, all of that data is potentially at risk on many fronts.
The New IAM: 5 Challenges That Add New Risks
Identity access and management (IAM), the IT security discipline dedicated to ensuring that the “right persons have access to the right resources at the right time for the right reasons,” has been around since the early 2000s. At that time, organizations and their IT teams were responding organically to the need for managing identity.
Cybercriminals are Targeting your Printers
There could be a security risk hiding in plain sight in your workplace. Consider this: Those hard-working printers scattered throughout your offices could actually be serving as easy entry points for security breaches.
Celebrating National Cyber Security Awareness Month with a Focus on Education
October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) in the U.S., and during the second week of the month, the focus is on higher education. Data breaches affect organizations across every vertical, yet many of these breaches could be avoided
The Financial Sector’s Gateway to Security & Advanced Functionality
Stay secure with healthcare identity and access management
Printing is a hidden cost that many organizations find hard to quantify. Beyond the price of physical materials such as equipment, paper and toner, there also are costs associated with maintenance, departments “doing their own thing” and even the opportunity cost of time spent waiting at the printer for a job to print.
The Summer Tasks of an Educational Network Administrator
Without authentication, there is no security. See how these common security protocols and simplification efforts are relevant to EVERY industry.
Recognizing the Benefits of Smart Authentication in Manufacturing
In the manufacturing world, it’s often hard to tangibly account for the benefits of RFID-enabled authentication. RFID operator authentication technology helps from the moment we enter the workplace to the moment we sign out, and everywhere in between. The benefits, although not often top-of-mind, expand beyond simplifying our daily tasks, into helping us be in compliance with industry regulations.
Consultative Selling Shows Insight into Printing's Demands
At ACDI, we're specialists in unbiased, consultative selling. Launched in 1994 as a hardware provider, we originally specialized in coin-op machines, among other hardware, for convenience printing. Sensing the shift in market demands, we made a switch to include software solutions in our product portfolio in 2011. Seven years later, software has become our largest revenue driver, and we're currently positioned as the largest PaperCut™ Authorized Solution Center (ASC) across the globe.