Cross-site credential and physical access management, lots of highly secure zones to which access must be restricted
Public Sector | Critical Infrastructure
Challenges
In the public sector and critical infrastructure, organisations must tightly control physical access to sensitive facilities like data centres, control rooms, substations, etc. They need to enforce strict, auditable access policies while supporting emergency overrides and just-in-time entry for contractors and responders. Distributed sites and legacy access systems make it difficult to apply consistent controls, monitor insider threats, and correlate physical and digital access logs.
Common PIAM requirements in the financial sector
Integration with diverse third-party systems such as access control or HR systems must be enabled, for unified monitoring and threat detection.
Role-based physical access must be granted based on roles and responsibilities, minimising unnecessary privileges.
Controlled emergency entry for first responders or critical operations must be providedd while maintaining security accountability.
Just-in-time provisioning and automatic withdrawal of access permissions for temporary personnel and contractors is required.
Audit and compliance logging: Detailed records must be kept for regulatory compliance and incident investigations.
Insider threats, role complexity and legacy system infrastructure
Whether in public institutions or critical infrastructure such as power plants: Staff roles can be quite complex, with varying levels of clearance, creating challenges for least-privilege physical access enforcement. Access must be constantly monitored and withdrawn as soon as this is required. In addition, there often is a legacy system infrastructure that needs to be transformed into an overall, state-of-the art Physical Identity & Access Management system.
Emergency and contingency access requirements
Especially in critical infrastructure organisations, there is a need for controlled physical access mechanisms for first responders or external emergy forces in crisis situations, without compromising security: The temporary provision of physical access rights for emergency personnel has to be thoroughly documented, with clear audit trails, and access must be revoked once the situation is resolved to prevent lingering security gaps.
High foot traffic and diverse physical access users: Security vs. accessibility
Public buildings and critical infrastructure host employees, contractors, citizens, and visitors, making it difficult to enforce consistent physical access policies. There is the need to balance open public access with the protection of sensitive offices, areas, and assets.
How ID-ware’s PIAM Suite can support to master these challenges
Unified & secure physical access management
- Creation, issuance, tracking, and revocation of permissions in one platform
- Cross-site physical access management for multiple plants and facilities
- Role-based access policies, ensuring that users can only enter authorised areas
- Automatic granting and withdrawal of physical access when roles change or contracts end
Temporary provision of emergency access for responders
- Predefined emergency roles that grant immediate entry to critical areas when triggered
- Strict time limits and scope restrictions so that elevated access only lasts as long as the incident
- All actions are logged and auditable, ensuring accountability once normal operations resume.
Secure and compliant visitor management
- Temporary physical access authorisations allow public entry without exposing sensitive assets
- Easy and secure Visitor Management via the visitor portal
- Real-time monitoring and audit trails, ensuring that any unusual movement between public and restricted spaces is detected and investigated
Just contact us for more information!
All our departments and processes are ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certified.
ID-ware is TISAX participant.
TISAX is a registered trademark of the ENX Association.
