About threat levels

A threat is a potentially dangerous situation, such as a fire or a shooting, that requires immediate response from the system and the security personnel.

Each threat level is characterized by a name and a color, and is associated with two lists of actions that dictate the behavior of the system. One list is executed when the threat level is set, and the other list is executed when the threat is cleared. You can choose from any Security Center actions to define the threat level, plus some additional actions that are unique to threat levels, such as denying certain cardholders access to areas in your system or forcing certain users to log off from the system.

Threat levels are set by Security Desk users who have the Set threat level privilege when a dangerous situation occurs. Operators can set a threat level on an area or on the entire system (includes all areas).

Unlock schedules during an active threat level

Areas are configured with a security clearance level ranging from 0 to 7 (0 = highest security, 7 = lowest). A security clearance of 7 is the default value, usually meaning that the area does not require a special clearance. Unlock schedules for areas configured with a security clearance level different than seven are bypassed for the duration of the threat. Once the threat level is cleared, the unlock schedules for these areas resume.

Setting a threat level has no effect on the following:

Manual Override unlock schedule commands from Security Desk
Manual Unlock commands for specific doors from the Security Desk door widget
Temporarily override unlock schedule Event-to-Action
REX activation, meaning the REX activation will still unlock the door
Unlocking doors from inside the area, meaning that access rules for exiting the area are not affected
Captive doors inside the area
HW Zone IO linking

Limitations of threat levels

The following limitations apply when using the threat level feature:

Threat levels work independently of partitions. Therefore, a threat level set at the system level by the users of one partition might affect the entities belonging to another partition, if the actions have a generic scope (applied to All entities).
Threat levels cannot be applied to federated areas.