Issue: Cybersecurity

The security industry fulfills a crucial role in cybersecurity and national security by providing systems that manage credentials for federal workers and contractors and control access to federal facilities and computer networks.

Competing priorities and the lack of available resources, however, have limited the ability of many agencies to modernize their physical access control systems with equipment and software offering security protections that meet federal standards. In many cases, low-assurance authentication mechanisms are in use, leaving significant physical security and cybersecurity risks unaddressed.

SIA Position:

Congress and the executive branch must ensure that agencies are placing a priority on bringing legacy physical access control systems into compliance and have the resources needed to fully fund these efforts, including assistance through the federal IT modernization programs authorized by the Modernizing Government Technology Act.