Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984
Pixel 4's 'Face Unlock' works even if you're asleep or dead -- and that's a problem
Google's new Pixel 4 smartphone doesn't have a fingerprint sensor. Instead it relies on "Face Unlock," a proprietary facial scanning system similar to the one found in Apple's Face ID. Early reports show a system that works well, perhaps too well, in fact, according to some security experts.
To unlock a Pixel, the operator must hold it up to their face while onboard cameras and sensors go to work scanning their mug for defining characteristics — the distance between your eyes, for example. Once the device is confident it's you, it unlocks and allows you to access the operating system.
With Google's system, according to the BBC, the Pixel's Face Unlock function works even if a user's eyes are closed, a clear and security risk for anyone with a Pixel 4. Using default settings, users who are asleep, or even dead, could unknowingly unlock their phone for others.
According to Google representatives, "Pixel 4 Face Unlock meets the security requirements as a strong biometric." True, but this in and of itself might not be enough. At its launch, Pixel product manager Sherry Lin said, "There are actually only two face [authorization] solutions that meet the bar for being super-secure. So, you know, for payments, that level — it's ours and Apple's."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by SparkyGSX on Sunday October 20 2019, @05:18PM (3 children)
Detecting the natural movement in the eyes seems fairly simple, and would prevent unlocking while you sleep, assuming you'd wake up when someone tries to hold your eyes open, without their hand blocking the view.
Both failure modes (unlocking while sleeping or while dead) also exist with fingerprint scanners, although you may or may not wake up when someone tries to use your finger to unlock your phone while you're asleep.
As for the people without eyes or who normally don't open theirs, they are an incredibly small minority, and for them, passcodes or patterns can be a workable alternative, or they could simply buy a phone that does have a fingerprint scanner.
If you do what you did, you'll get what you got
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 20 2019, @06:35PM (2 children)
Not if you're Chinese!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 20 2019, @09:37PM (1 child)
I don't get the joke. Care to elaborate?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday October 21 2019, @02:04PM
> I don't get the joke. Care to elaborate?
My father's Chinese: /* *\
My mother's Japanese: *\ /*
But I'm just a plain ol' kid: /* */ or *\ \*
(and my friend is European: (* *) )
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.