Identification Badges

Increasingly, agencies require employees to wear some sort of identification badge or credential that is immediately visible. Usually, these badges contain a color photograph of the employee. Some vulnerabilities associated with employee badges depend more on human behavior than on technical matters. These vulnerabilities include:

• Badges can be easily counterfeited. Once someone is “inside the fence,” badges are rarely inspected unless something draws someone’s attention to the wearer. Badges need to be closely examined and electronically verified.
  
  
• Persons wearing what appears to be a valid employee’s badge and who otherwise look like they belong in the area are rarely challenged by other employees, particularly if employees do not know each other well.