Rozin Security reposted this
Last night, the Twin Cities was hit with a "little" storm that knocked out the power of ~250,000 energy customers (my apartment included 😐). My complex's power was knocked out for a few hours this morning, and the keyfob access control system with it. As I walked my dog this morning I noticed that the site had chosen to use maglocks for most perimeter doors, which are fail-safe and are unsecured when without power. The site had installed a few electric strikes as well, but those were also configured to be fail-safe. Without any power backup for the electric door hardware/access control system, the building was open to the public until Xcel was able to get power back. Without any power backup, an apartment complex would likely need to rely on fail-safe doors to allow re-entry to its tenants. However, most other facilities would likely benefit from a fail-secure configuration that remains secured without power and prevents such open access. Different facilities have different needs, so security practitioners should ensure the right solution is implemented! This situation highlights the need to carefully consider the implications of choosing fail-safe versus fail-secure configurations and underscores the necessity of power backup systems to maintain security during outages!