Ready-made biometric solution Id-Guard
Id-Guard developed by RecFaces is a software for video surveillance systems that immediately detects people in a video stream by their face. The system compares images with the database and, if needed, instantly sends notifications of violations of security measures to responsible persons.
Depending on the client’s current tasks, notifications are delivered through several channels at once: to the Id-Guard interface, to third-party information systems, as well as directly to security guards via SMS alerts, e-mail and mobile app. At the same time, the system will send notifications to employees only about those events for which they are responsible. With Id-Guard, it became possible to record visitors and employees in real time, keep archives, investigate incidents, and control the wearing of masks.
Id-Guard is a boxed solution that has a range of ready-to-use integrations, and thanks to the open API it can be integrated with the main VMS. The installation process takes 20 minutes — after a simple setup, the software is ready for operation. The number of connected video sources and the size of the profile database are determined by the purchased license and may vary depending on the customer’s requirements. If necessary, the client can further increase the number of video streams or expand the biometric database.
Despite the speed of implementation, this software complies with standards of the information storage due to the fact that RecFaces pays special attention to this. The data exchange is carried out using secure protocols, internal storages with encryption. It is impossible to convert biometric templates back to images.
Work on the project and the solution
The Legislative Assembly of El Salvador is the Parliament of the Republic, a major governmental facility. The headquarters is regularly visited by deputies, employees, students, and citizens. Negotiations, meetings with guests and various events are also held there. A video surveillance system has already been installed in the Assembly, but with biometrics, the protection of particularly critical facilities becomes more efficient. Thus, the Assembly’s security service has installed innovative software.
The acquaintance with Id-Guard for the Assembly began with a demo license. RecFaces provides a free full-featured demo for 3 months with an opportunity to connect up to 3 cameras and generate a database of biometric profiles for 1000 people.
Within the framework of this project, there was no need in 3 months: after installing the solution at the facility, testing and training, the Assembly’s security service decided to purchase the Id-Guard software for permanent use. RecFaces specialists helped the setup of the system and cameras, as well as conducted free online training for employees based on the RecFaces competence center.
Among all the functions of the system, monitoring of visitors based on lists turned out to be the most important feature for the Legislative Assembly, while other functions of Id-Guard are also actively used by the customer.
Despite the remote format of work, RecFaces provided the client with comprehensive support at all stages and at any time — from system design to installation and configuration. In addition, the client has an opportunity to contact the company’s technical support at any given moment. RecFaces also notifies of system updates in due time, helps with installing it and conducts additional training after each new release. All of it is also available to customers as part of the technical support certificate.
In the modern world, there are more and more new ways to cheat facial biometric systems. Therefore, RecFaces constantly makes amendments to its solutions and updates neural network algorithms. RecFaces solutions also provide Liveness check which allows to determine that there is a living person in front of the camera, and not a photo or video. Besides, this check is an additional factor in controlling the compromise of the system.
Benefits
The whole project, from receiving a request to full implementation, took only a couple of months. Such speed is possible because Id-Guard is a boxed solution, which means that it doesn’t require programming and debugging. After technical consultation, the software is immediately installed as a supplement to the VMS in the customer’s infrastructure. In return, the Id-Guard integration plugin provides the VMS operator with access to the biometric functionality of Id-Guard directly from the familiar VMS VideoXpert interface.
Often clients believe that custom solutions will be more effective, because they are created taking into account the peculiarities of their project. In fact, ready-made biometrics solutions like Id-Guard have a number of advantages over them.
Firstly, the boxed software uses only proven technical and algorithmic solutions based on real-world operation in similar scenarios. This is highly important for the systems ensuring security. Choosing a ready-made solution reduces downtime to a minimum both at the implementation stages and in case of emergency situations during exploitation. When it comes to biometrics, incorrect software operation can turn into a disaster because the infrastructure ensures security. RecFaces systems allow to minimize the number of such failures and protect personal data to the maximum.
Secondly, boxed software is implemented quickly and inexpensively due to being delivered ready-to-use. It doesn’t require development costs and possible subsequent fine-tuning. So this makes it appealing to the businesses that are seeking cost-effective solutions which are ready to be applied here and now.
And finally, ready-made software doesn’t require any modifications in the current personnel: hiring new employees or reducing the number of existing ones. The training and support system allows full-time technical staff to easily maintain the new system. Meanwhile, the time spent on this is minimal, while the efficiency of the security service as a whole is increased due to the use of biometric technologies.
RecFaces strives to educate partners and end-users on how to work with biometrics correctly, what to pay attention to and how to interpret the results so that operation is comfortable and as effective as possible.
Furthermore, the video surveillance system Id-Guard is very convenient for large governmental organizations in terms of technical capabilities and scalability. It’s possible to start with a demo and a small number of cameras, and then install the system even on geographically dispersed objects.
The software helps to prevent the threat thanks to the search feature for people in the archive by photo or description, as well as date, time or location. If a person who is prohibited from entering the building tries to get into there, the system will instantly detect it. A configurable interface with notifications and a variety of delivery channels allows to coordinate the work of security services in a large group of buildings. And last but not least, the function of simply creating complex reports with information about the movement trajectory helps in investigating the incidents.
Results
With the help of biometric software, the security service of the Assembly of El Salvador has become more efficient. Id-Guard allows to deliver notifications in user-friendly ways, manage the lists and quickly respond to emergency situations at the entrances. Due to the seamless integration of cameras with the video surveillance system VideoXpert and the biometric software Id-Guard, the Assembly can comfortably work with a single archive of video and biometric data. According to the customer’s testimonials, the security level in the Assembly has increased significantly.
