Page 84 - Security Today, March 2020

INDUSTRY
PROFESSIONAL
NAothing Artificial Here
With Ralph C. Jensen
few years ago, Vince Gaydarzhiev wanted to make a big splash in the security industry. Arti- ficial intelligence was on the cusp of working its way into security models and solutions. The big splash is happening, right now.
“This is an access point identification method by leveraging facial recog- nition, 3D sensing and AI to enable highly secure and frictionless entry into physical locations.”
Alcatraz AI is truly a startup company, as Gaydarzhiev began his research and deployment in his living room a few years ago. The company has now grown to a new office in Palo Alto, and have about 20 employees. He also has an office in Sofia, Bulgaria, with another 20 or so employees.
Security is a Top Priority
Alcatraz is built from the ground up with security and privacy in mind. Biometric data is encrypted at rest and in transit as a pro- prietary template, stored only for facial authentication purposes. The product, which backs up in real-time, is fully compliant with information privacy laws (including GDPR) and tamper-proof.
“Those in the industry interested in this type of security solution can see it firsthand as we travel to key tradeshows, such as ISC West in Las Vegas,” Gaydarzhiev said. “These tradeshows are important for us, and they are important to play nice with everyone, and build the all important partner- ships. Partnerships are vital in this industry, and they make the environment better.”
A few things that are a key part of the Alcatraz AI value system are:
Ownership. People like to own products from start to end, and are able to work across different part of the stack. Employees will pitch in and help wherever they can, and take pride in their work.
Agility. The company is focused on working with cutting edge technologies. Employees who will push themselves and adapt to change and adopt new technologies. Alcatraz is more afraid of losing an opportunity than of making a mistake.
Openness. Alcatraz employs people who are unafraid of voic- ing their thoughts, seeking help from others, and receive feedback with an open mind. Ensure that company culture cultivates this value at all times.
His journey has been a productive technology experience. Once he completed his university studies, he turned toward the generation of new security products, hence the target of AI.
His goal was to create a hands-off badging system for such verticals as healthcare, the oil and gas industry, and government applications. While the product has a higher price tag than he would like, future generations of the product will be less costly and more valuable to the customer, Gayharzhiev said.
AI is here to stay, and it has a strong foothold in the security industry. So, that big splash that Gayharzhiev wanted to make has turned into a cannonball.
Ralph C. Jensen is the editor in chief of Security Today magazine. 0320 | SECURITY TODAY
Gaydarzhiev created Alcatraz AI, and he has now made his way successfully into the facial authentication marketplace. With all the talk about facial authentication, he has brought about a solution that is just a little bit different. This access control solu- tion does recognize a person’s face but the images are not stored, nor do they invade someone’s privacy.
“What this solution will do is place a current badging sys- tem and biometric readers. This is an access point identification method by leveraging facial recognition, 3D sensing and AI to enable highly secure and frictionless entry into physical loca- tions,” Gaydarzhiev said.
Secure facial authentication. It is a solution that uses real-time 3D facial mapping and deep neural networks to automatically enroll an individual based on any current access control method. Entry is granted based on secure facial recognition with first in the industry instant one-factor authentication for multi-person in-the-flow sensing.
Intelligent enrollment. Alcatraz is offering an industry-first initial training based on artificial intelligence. Alcatraz learns as employees are badging and switches to one factor face-only mode once it has collected enough data.
Tailgating detection. Long scanning range and a large field of view authenticates multiple faces in-the-flow and alerts based on policy. Auto-tagging and real-time notifications with video and analytics, along with single-factor face-only authentication create an efficient and guard-less entry flow.
Time tracking. The product features automatic employee check-in based on multi-person in-the-flow sensing. No more punch cards — time your hourly employees based on secure fa- cial authentication.
“I’ve worked on this solution for the past four years,” said Gaydarzhiev, who previously worked at a major phone manufac- turer. His experience came from working on phone modules that now employ facial recognition to open the phone system. He also has a major investor into the facial identification with Johnson Controls providing some financial backing.
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