Badge (Raven)

The Raven personnel badge is a standard-format smart card that displays an individual's portrait, name, department, clearance level, facility of residence and permitted facility areas, date of birth, employee number, and assigned psychological handler. It also contains multiple barcodes that allow machine reading of card information without directly interfacing with the chip. The card itself is always black, and bears the Raven logo along the right side along with numerous security features including a holographic version of the Raven logo. The cards are custom manufactured by Metatron Access Control. A clear, coloured stripe at the bottom of the badge displays the clearance level, making it easy for security personnel to check at a glance.

Construction

The badge is made from a base of heavy, glossy opaque black acrylic with a durable scratch-resistant coating, which is a non-standard material for smart cards. Unlike standard smart cards, the badge is also hermetically sealed and the chip is impervious to water ingress. The surface is nano-etched with security holograms that appear when the badge is tilted into the light. A chemical within the acrylic will start to turn the entire badge red after its standard one-year expiry as a further deterrent to espionage; shorter delays of up to a single day are used for temporary badges. This chemical also destroys the magstripe and renders the Aztec codes unreadable.

Exchange

Badges of Epsilon or higher are not permitted to be removed from secure Raven facilities. This is for two reasons: the badge touched the airgapped network, potentially enabling it to be used as a vector for data exfiltration, however small; and a high-level badge stolen outside the facility could be leveraged to gain access to high-security areas if it were somehow smuggled inside the facility.

At the Descent Access Gate, Alpha or Beta badges must be exchanged for a badge at the Epsilon or Gamma level. And at the Sigma Unit, they must be exchanged for a badge at the Sigma level. This means that an employee can have up to three badges assigned to them at any one time, but never physically hold more than one. The separation is an information security tactic, as Topside, The Descent, and the Sigma Unit all have independent, air-gapped security systems.

Policy

Clear signs in areas and before doors indicate which badge type is permitted to be in each area. A coloured stripe along most interior facility walls indicates the highest classification of information that may be discussed in that area. Badges must be worn at all times on either the left or the right side of an employee's belt, or pinned to either side of their chest. Any individuals that fail to present a valid badge are escorted from the secure area and detained. As this is a grave violation of security policy, this can result in clearance revocation and summary dismissal. Accidental loss of a Gamma or Sigma badge also results in revocation.