The Problem

The existing set-up creates several challenges:

  • ❌ Authenticator apps and SMS codes cannot be used at all, because no phone is allowed past the gate
  • ❌ Physical tokens and smart cards are issued items that can be lost, stolen or taken under pressure, and each loss becomes a security incident
  • ❌ Terminals sit in shared, observed spaces, so anything typed can be watched
  • ❌ Shift changes put dozens of officers through the same terminals within minutes
  • ❌ Passwords are written down, shared at handover, or reset so often that the service desk becomes part of the login process

The Shayype Solution

Implementing Shayype inside the prison’s existing login would provide:

  • ✅ A one-time code read from a pattern each officer holds in their head, with nothing to carry through the gate
  • ✅ Codes that are masked as they are typed and useless once used, so an onlooker on the wing gains nothing they can reuse
  • ✅ Fast logins at any terminal, with no wait for a code that can’t arrive anyway
  • ✅ The option, through the prison’s own integration, of a second “duress” pattern that logs in normally while raising a silent alert to the control room
  • ✅ A full audit trail of every attempt by user, terminal, time and outcome, with pattern resets handled by an administrator who never sees the pattern

The Theoretical Impact

In this scenario, switching to Shayype would be expected to:

  • Remove the entire category of “lost authentication device” incidents inside the secure line
  • Cut password-reset calls sharply, as a memorable pattern replaces a rotating password
  • Reduce queueing at wing terminals at shift change, as there is no code to wait for
  • Give the security lead a documented, risk-assessed answer to “how do you do MFA in there?”
  • Add a duress signal that costs officers nothing to carry and nothing to remember beyond a second shape

These figures are illustrative: the scenario is a composite, not a live deployment.

Most importantly, officers could log in at any terminal on any wing with nothing in their pockets, and the prison would no longer have to choose between a security rule and a security control. Shayype is an ingredient the prison’s own IT team integrates into the systems they already run; the rules about what a code triggers stay entirely theirs.

This scenario shows how Shayype fits environments where the rule is “nothing comes in”, and where anything issued could be taken.

Would you like to see how Shayype works when the phone stays at the gate? Try the 60-second demo.