TheoryLocksmith Practice Questions
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Locksmith Questions
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Q1What does the term 'electronic access control' primarily refer to?
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✓ Correct answer: Systems that use electronic credentials to grant or deny entry
Electronic access control uses electronic credentials such as cards, PINs, or biometrics to grant or deny access, replacing or supplementing traditional mechanical locks and keys.
Q2What is the primary advantage of electronic access control over traditional mechanical locks?
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✓ Correct answer: Ability to revoke access without changing hardware
Electronic access control allows administrators to revoke or modify a user's access rights in software without the need to rekey or replace physical hardware, making it far more flexible for managing large numbers of users.
Q3Which credential technology uses radio frequency to communicate between the card and reader without physical contact?
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✓ Correct answer: RFID (Radio Frequency Identification)
RFID credentials communicate via radio frequency, allowing the card or fob to be read without direct contact with the reader, which improves convenience and reduces wear on hardware.
Q4A proximity card typically operates at which frequency?
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✓ Correct answer: 125 kHz
Standard proximity cards (such as HID prox) operate at 125 kHz. Higher-frequency smartcards like MIFARE operate at 13.56 MHz, which offers greater data capacity and security.
Q5What distinguishes a smart card from a standard proximity card?
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✓ Correct answer: Smart cards contain a microprocessor capable of encryption and data storage
Smart cards contain an embedded microprocessor that can perform cryptographic operations and store data, enabling mutual authentication and much stronger security than basic proximity cards that only broadcast a fixed ID number.
Q6Which credential format is most vulnerable to being cloned by a low-cost reader device?
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✓ Correct answer: Standard 125 kHz HID proximity card
Standard 125 kHz HID proximity cards broadcast a fixed, unencrypted ID number, making them easy to clone with inexpensive off-the-shelf devices. Modern smart card formats use encryption and mutual authentication to prevent cloning.
Q7A Wiegand interface is most commonly used for what purpose in access control?
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✓ Correct answer: Transmitting card data from a reader to a control panel
The Wiegand interface is a widely used communication protocol for transmitting card data (card number) from a credential reader to an access control panel. It is a legacy protocol with no built-in encryption.
Q8OSDP (Open Supervised Device Protocol) improves on the Wiegand protocol primarily by providing which capability?
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✓ Correct answer: Bidirectional encrypted communication between reader and controller
OSDP enables bidirectional, encrypted (AES-128) communication between reader and controller, enabling mutual authentication and resistance to eavesdropping and replay attacks, which Wiegand's one-way unencrypted signal cannot provide.
Q9What does 'FAR' stand for in biometric access control?
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✓ Correct answer: False Acceptance Rate
FAR (False Acceptance Rate) is the percentage of times an access control system incorrectly grants access to an unauthorized user. A lower FAR indicates a more secure biometric system.
Q10What is the 'Equal Error Rate' (EER) in a biometric system?
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✓ Correct answer: The point at which FAR and FRR are equal, used to compare biometric systems
The Equal Error Rate (EER) is the threshold setting at which the FAR equals the FRR. A lower EER indicates a more accurate biometric system, making it a useful benchmark for comparing different technologies.
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