Is Facial Authentication FERPA Compliant? What Counsel Checks
FERPA does not ban biometrics — it regulates records. Where facial templates and door logs sit in its definitions, and how consent-first architecture clears the review.
Blog
The ZeroTrustCampus Blog
Field notes on campus access control, zero trust, and biometric privacy — written for the people who own the doors.
This blog covers the practical work of modernizing campus access control: replacing badge-by-default trust with verified identity at every door. Expect deployment guidance for facial authentication alongside the systems universities already run — Genetec, LenelS2, C•CURE, and Genea — plus candid coverage of the questions that decide whether a rollout succeeds: opt-in consent, biometric privacy law from BIPA to FERPA, tailgating and badge sharing in residence halls, and the budget realities of higher-education security.
New posts publish regularly across five areas — campus security, zero trust, biometric privacy, product, and compliance — each written for the security, IT, and facilities leaders who own the doors.
BIPA and the University: Illinois’ Biometric Law at the Door
The most litigated biometric law in the country, read for campus teams: what BIPA demands, where universities sit in its scope, and how architecture decides exposure.
State Biometric Privacy Laws for Universities: What Applies Where
No federal biometric law, fifty state answers. The three layers of statutes that touch campus biometrics, and the single architecture that satisfies the strictest of them.
The Clery Act and Access Control: Making Door Data Defensible
The Annual Security Report is only as honest as the doors behind it. Where access data touches Clery obligations, and what changes when entries are verified people.
GDPR and Campus Biometrics: Consent for a Global Student Body
Article 9 sets the highest consent bar in privacy law. How U.S. campuses with international populations meet it — explicit consent, minimization, DPIA, and deletion.
The Student Biometric Consent Form: Clauses That Hold Up
Students read it at enrollment, counsel before launch, opposing counsel after. The clauses a biometric consent form needs and the mistakes that undo them.
What Is Zero Trust Physical Security? A Campus Definition
Never trust, always verify — at the door. The reference definition of zero trust physical security for campus teams: principles, what it replaces, what it looks like installed.
From the Network to the Door: A Zero Trust Roadmap for CISOs
Your identity program stops at the building entrance. The five-stage roadmap CISOs use to bring doors into zero trust — without replacing the access control system.
Tailgating on Campus: The Attack That Defeats Every Badge
One held door defeats the entire access investment behind it. Why tailgating is the normal condition of busy doors, and what a reader that keeps watching changes.
Badge Sharing in Residence Halls: The Etiquette That Breaks Access Control
A lent ID opens a residence hall as convincingly as its owner. Why sharing is rational behavior inside a bad system — and the only credential that cannot be lent.