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The PSIA introduces Secure Credential Interoperability initiative

The Physical Security Interoperability Alliance (PSIA) announced its Secure Credential Interoperability (SCI) initiative and a working group to advance its development.

“The physical access control industry has demonstrated a need for a universally compatible secure credential and we believe we have found a simple, yet elegant solution to address this with SCI,” said Mohammad Soleimani, CTO of Kastle Systems and chairman of the SCI Work Group in a statement. “The specification will leverage the security, flexibility, and convenience of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and negate the need for investment in the infrastructure.”

PSIA member companies involved in the SCI work group include, Allegion, ASSA ABLOY, dormakaba, Farpointe Data, IDEMIA, Kastle Systems, LenelS2, Tyco and WaveLynx Technologies.

The SCI specification supports NFC, ISO14443, and Bluetooth (BLE) and can accommodate all device types including cards, mobile devices, and wearables. The group has already prepared a draft specification for apps, readers, and locks featuring BLE compatibility.

The SCI leverages off existing standards and commercially available technology. Most smartphones enable the public/private key to be created by the device. This is compatible with nearly all smartphones produced over the last five years, including Android and iOS devices.

The SCI WG is finalizing its technical draft of the specification.