Access Fobs and Cards

Several locksmiths in Melbourne CBD – and I guess other cities – are now offering to clone RFID fobs to allow multiple people to access what were previously relatively secure buildings.   One of these locksmiths told me that the only cards that he cannot clone are called iClass and he believes that these will be secure for 2 to 5 years as the equipment to crack them costs too much to make it economic to purchase.

As an OC we are now actively looking at changing our 15 year old system to something more secure.

A quick eBay search has found multiple RFID cloning machines from around $25.00 each, and fobs/cards around 30cents each in bulk.  This makes our current system useless.

Google also confirms that high security iClass has been hacked.  This seems to leave biometric access control as the only practical long term option. Biometrics would also help to dissuade short term rental, as all “guests” would need to register, rather than being given a fob or card.

Does anyone have an answer to this problem in their building??