What might cause false alarms in an electronic access control system?

False alarms in an electronic access control system can often be attributed to environmental factors, such as pets or moving objects. These elements can trigger sensors that are sensitive to motion or changes in their environment, leading to alerts that do not indicate a genuine security breach. This means that even in secure or controlled environments, everyday occurrences like small animals or even the wind moving objects can cause unnecessary alarms.

While malfunctioning hardware components can also lead to false alarms, it does not encompass the broader scope of everyday disturbances that can interact with sensors. Unauthorized access attempts, while critical in the context of security, would not be classified as false alarms since they represent real security events, contrary to the nature of false alarms which suggest no actual threat. Therefore, environmental factors are a primary concern when examining causes of false alarms in these systems.