With the Connected Worker Platform from NymiTM – an architecture that includes the Nymi workplace wearable – customers gain an authentication solution, backed by cryptographic technology, that provides a method for improved data integrity and helps demonstrate it to regulators: Safe, Secure, Simple.
The ‘who, what and when’ of authentication
As Nymi’s Quality Systems Lead, Danielle Harrison is responsible for the company’s quality management system. She continually reviews Nymi’s technology architecture, implements new processes and improves system efficiency wherever possible, while ensuring those same systems continue to comply with industry standards and wider regulatory frameworks.
Harrison also helps Nymi’s broad range of customers, from general enterprise, manufacturers to pharmaceutical firms, integrate Nymi’s solution into their systems and processes. By walking them through a “validation cycle”, she shows companies how to run the necessary tests to ensure that their newly-integrated systems remain “valid” in the eyes of regulators.
“When you consider the data logs that regulatory bodies review to ensure the integrity of a company’s data, and the validity of its systems, it’s always the ‘who, what and when’,” says Harrison. “Who created the action, what action did they take, and when was that action completed?
“The Nymi Band ensures that a person is who they say they are. It provides a very high assurance that it is in fact the authorised individual who is wearing that particular band, and that they’re the person tapping into systems and recording their specific sets of actions. This is instead of an employee using pen and paper, relying on a badge or card key to access a secure area or a laboratory, for example. Such devices can easily be lost, stolen, or compromised by someone who isn’t authorised to enter that secure area.”
User-friendly biometrics
The Nymi Band is different to other biometric technologies, such as fingerprint or retina scanning, because the user’s biometric data never leaves the band, which itself never leaves the possession of its assigned user. This has major advantages both in terms of data privacy for the user and security for the organisation.
The Nymi Band operates with an “always on” notion, meaning that workers only need to authenticate once at the start of their shift, and will not need to present their biometric again thereafter. This can be incorporated into a gowning up process for any operators who need to wear protective equipment. The operator authenticates once at the start of their shift, suits up, and then completes their shift without having to present their biometric again. This prevents having to remove protective equipment mid-shift in order to re-authenticate, which is not only inconvenient for operators, but in many instances is dangerous or simply not possible.
“The Nymi Band is really easy for people to adopt,” adds Harrison. “For users to be able to put their band on in the morning, then go about their day without having to worry about signing off each and every action, it makes it really easy for companies to be compliant.”
Efficiency and reliability
The one-time authentication technology in the Nymi Band is unique, and is one of the key differences between the Connected Worker Platform and other biometric solutions on the market.
During the enrolment process, an individual holds their finger over the fingerprint reader on the band, much like they would on a smartphone. The fingerprint reader generates a fingerprint template for the user, which is then stored securely on the band. From then on, every time authentication is required, and a fingerprint reading is taken, that reading is compared against this saved template.
“You couldn’t use your fingerprint to authenticate my band, and I can’t use my fingerprint to authenticate your band,” explains Harrison. “The one-time authentication means that each band can only be authenticated by its assigned owner. Combined with sensors that monitor liveness and on-body detection, it provides the highest level of security. We test this to a false acceptance rejection rate of about one in 500,000, so it’s incredibly secure in terms of authentication.”
When considering data integrity and compliance in active worker environments, like in manufacturing plants or laboratories, there are fewer authentication solutions more efficient and secure than the Nymi Band and Connected Worker Platform. The band’s one-time authentication technology makes it both more secure and more user-friendly than alternative biometric solutions. As a result, operators tend to have far higher satisfaction, compliance levels are improved, and security is dramatically enhanced.
