IBM® Security Access Manager for Enterprise Single Sign-On supports the use of presence detectors to provide additional security to the user workstation.
A presence detector is a device that detects the presence of the user within its vicinity. When affixed to a computer, the device can notify AccessAgent when a user is in front of the computer or when the user moves away. A presence detector device eliminates the effort of manually locking the computer when the user leaves the computer for a short time.
The sonar-based presence detector is used to immediately lock the computer when the user walks away without waiting for the desktop inactivity timeout. IBM Security Access Manager for Enterprise Single Sign-On supports the sonar-based presence detector RF IDeas pcProx-Sonar BSE-PCPRXSNR pcProx-Sonar.
The difference between Active RFID and the pcProx-Sonar is that an Active RFID has a unique ID that you can use to identify a user. You cannot use the pcProx-Sonar to identify a user because the pcProx-Sonar does not have an ID.
The device is attached to the USB port of the computer and is configured by the system as a keyboard. When the user moves away from the computer, the device sends keystrokes to the computer.
You can set AccessAgent to intercept these keystrokes and perform appropriate actions. For example, lock the computer. When the user approaches the computer, the device sends a different set of keystrokes to the computer. The device uses 40 kHz ultrasonic sound waves and can detect from a range of 5 inches to 5 feet. The user can move in the zone without triggering a walk away event.
You cannot combine this device with an Active RFID because it is also a presence detector.
Active RFID is both a second authentication factor and a presence detector because Active RFID detects the presence of a user.
You can configure AccessAgent to perform specific actions when using an Active RFID.