Face ID Fooled Again; This Time by a Special 3D Printed Mask

BY Rajesh Pandey

Published 11 Nov 2017

iPhone X Face ID TrueDepth Camera System

Ever since Apple unveiled the iPhone X with only Face ID, there has been a lot of concerns about just how secure the technology is. Various other forms of facial recognition used by Android OEMs were found to be subpar in terms of security and could be easily fooled using a photo.

Apple’s approach is more advanced and thus secure which is why the company boasts that Face ID is more secure than Touch ID. Proving Apple wrong are security experts from Bkav Corporation who managed to fool Face ID using a facial mask. The mask is crafted using 3D printing, 2D images, and “some special processing on the cheeks and around the face, where there are large skin areas, to fool AI of Face ID”.

Bkav was the first company in 2008 to demonstrate that the facial recognition system used in laptops from Toshiba, Asus, Lenovo etc. were not good enough from a security viewpoint.

Ever since the release of the iPhone X last week, there have been many attempts to fool Face ID. The ones that have been successful so far are too technical and require a lot of effort which should not bother regular customers. But that is only valid if they don’t have an identical twin. However, one must not forget that Face ID is still new and its performance and the level of security it offers is bound to improve over time as Apple improves the AI behind it.

[Via Bkav]