Bring Biometrics to Your Existing Access Control Infrastructure Without Sacrificing Privacy or Flexibility

If you're evaluating facial authentication but still hesitant due to privacy concerns or integration complexity, you're not alone. The good news? You don’t need to compromise.

At Alcatraz, we’ve spent years solving the one paradox that’s held back biometric adoption: how to deliver security that’s smarter than a badge reader, without behaving like surveillance.

Let’s break down why Alcatraz facial authentication looks like a badge reader to your Access Control System (ACS), only smarter, faster, and more private.

Facial Authentication ≠ Facial Recognition

First, let’s get the language right. Alcatraz is not facial recognition. We're not scanning crowds or identifying strangers from a watchlist. What we do is facial authentication: verifying that the person at the door matches the digital signature bound to their badge ID.

That distinction matters. We wrote an entire post on it here:

Facial Authentication vs. Facial Recognition: What’s the Difference?

That means:

• No surveillance: users opt-in
• No PII exchanged or stored

Our system turns a face into an encrypted digital template that we call a "digital blob" using a non-reversible 1-way algorithm that's only used for one thing: verifying access against the ACS.

We Look No Different than a Card Reader to the ACS

Here’s the magic. From the perspective of your ACS, authentication with Alcatraz looks no different than a badge reader.

But what’s truly different is how we handle privacy from the very beginning starting with enrollment:

1. Consent: Users provide explicit, opt-in consent to use Alcatraz, either via mobile or in-person workflows. Consent records are managed by your organization and auditable at any time.
2. Biometric Profile: A face is converted into an encrypted biometric template using a one-way algorithm. The image is immediately discarded, never stored.
3. Binding: That biometric template is then bound to a badge number. No names. No personal data.

Then continues at authentication:

1. Edge Authentication: Rock X authenticates users locally at the edge, no cloud matching, no raw biometric data transmission.
   
   
2. ACS Authorization: Once authenticated, Alcatraz sends only the associated badge number of an end-user back to your ACS panel. The ACS then makes the access decision based on its own access rules.

Throughout the entire enrollment and authentication process:

• Alcatraz never sees PII from your ACS
• The ACS never receives biometric data
• No data is shared between systems, maintaining full segregation between the ACS and Alcatraz

This is what we mean by privacy at the core, not just privacy by policy.

We may look like a badge reader to your ACS, but everything about how we handle identity is built for the privacy-obsessed world we live in.

Playing Nice With Badge Readers, Until It’s Time to Move On

We’ll say it: there’s still a time and place for badge readers. Especially in 2FA or MFA deployments, where Rock X works in-line with existing readers over OSDP or Wiegand to add biometric verification without requiring rip and replace.

This setup gives enterprises a path to modernize their access control without a massive infrastructure overhaul. You can start with dual-factor security, get familiar with facial authentication, and move to 1FA face-only authentication and scale from there.

That said, we do believe the future is fully frictionless and badge-free. But for now, we’re making it easy to upgrade your security posture one access point at a time, without disrupting what’s already in place.

Better Than a Badge Reader, Without Acting Like Biometrics

Badges are easy. But they’re also insecure, clonable, and increasingly outdated. Badges can be lost, stolen, or shared, creating major gaps in both security and accountability. Legacy biometrics offer stronger authentication, but at the cost of privacy, user trust, and regulatory exposure.

We solved that tradeoff:

• Stronger security with AI-powered edge authentication, tailgating detection, and multi-factor capabilities
• Stronger privacy with AES-256 encryption, opt-in workflows, and zero PII shared between systems
• Stronger compliance with GDPR, BIPA, and CCPA built into how we store, process, and protect biometric data

We even authored a Privacy Playbook that is available to our customers to help them onboard. Rolling out biometrics should not come at the cost of trust or transparency.

Biometrics Without the Complexity
Here’s the part that often gets overlooked: security administrators don’t need to change how they work.

Because Rock X integrates with your ACS like a standard badge reader, you gain all the benefits of biometrics without changing your workflows or infrastructure.

• No system change required: Our devices authenticate at the edge, then pass only the badge number to the ACS—just like a badge reader.
• Access control stays centralized: Your ACS still controls access rights. Disable a badge? That person loses access, regardless of biometric enrollment.
• Credential-agnostic: Whether your organization uses SEOS, iCLASS, MIFARE, or anything else, Alcatraz works on top of it—no card format changes needed.
• Real-time sync with ACS: For customers who want deeper integration, we offer native connectors to major ACS platforms. Badge updates in the ACS are automatically reflected in Alcatraz, so administrators only manage one system.

This isn’t just a privacy-first deployment, it’s a zero-friction deployment. IT and Security teams don’t need to rearchitect their access control model to adopt biometrics at scale.

New Features That Reinforce Consent-First Design

As part of our Facial Authentication as a Service model (FAaaS), we’re continuously enhancing our products, with privacy as a key focus. In our latest product update, we introduced new tools that give enterprises even more control over how, when, and if facial data is used:

• Opt-In Biometric Processing for 2FA
  Only match facial data after a badge has been presented and verified for consent. Ideal for environments with opt-in regulatory requirements
• Custom Docusign Consent
  Collect biometric consent using your own legal language and workflows, whether deployed in the cloud or on-prem

These aren’t bolt-on features. They’re part of our core architecture: built for trust, not just performance.

It’s Time to Flip the Script

For too long, organizations have had to choose between security and simplicity, or worse, between privacy and progress.

At Alcatraz, we believe you shouldn’t have to choose at all. We don’t just protect access points. We protect trust—in how identities are verified, how data is handled, and how systems integrate.

And the best part? Deploying Alcatraz is as simple as installing a badge reader—only smarter. 

Curious how it works?

Schedule a demo. If your facility can support a badge reader, it can support Alcatraz.

Let’s make the future of security frictionless and fearless.