Face Recognition in Samsung Galaxy S8 not secure enough

Samsung has took the curtains off its latest flagship device, the Samsung Galaxy S8. Additionally to the super-slim bezels, tall screen, and speedy new flower 835 (or Exynos 9) processor, the device is also coming with a lot of biometric identification options.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 features a fingerprint reader, face recognition and iris scanner. With the public’s first exposure to the Galaxy S8 happening a few days ago, it was only a matter of time until one of these biometric solutions has been easily cracked.

One of the drawbacks in the biometric identification features is that the Samsung Galaxy S8’s face recognition can be tricked with a photo. This was demonstrated through video by Spanish Periscope user Marcianophone purports. In this Spanish video, you can see that a taking a selfie with his own phone, then point it at the Galaxy S8, which is trained to unlock with his face. It only takes a few minutes to unlock the Samsung Galaxy S8’s “secure biometric system” with just a picture. He also shows that the trick is easily repeatable.

Google added a “Face Unlock” system to Android 4.0 back in 2011, and it had the same picture vulnerability that Samsung’s solution has today. In Android 4.1, Google’s face unlock added a “liveness check” that attempted to defeat the photo vulnerability by requiring the user to blink. This too was bypassed by grabbing a photo of someone, Photo shopping a second copy of the picture with a set of closed “eyelids,” and then switching between the “eyes open” and “eyes closed” pictures when the face unlock asks the user to blink. It seems Samsung built a face unlock feature from the ground up for the S8, and it’s continuation an equivalent mistakes.

Samsung should understand that the face recognition is not the most secure feature on Earth. It is the only 1 of the 3 biometric systems that cannot be accustomed authorize Samsung Pay purchases. We’d recommend that is it is also not a good plan to line as your lock screen, and a PIN or countersign would be safer. The great news for Samsung is that has time to repair face unlocks flaws before the launch date.

The statement by Samsung official: “The Galaxy S8 provides numerous types of biometric identification features. The level of authentication from the iris scanner and fingerprint reader is the best. Additionally, the Galaxy S8 provides users with multiple choices to unlock their phones through each biometric security choices, and convenient choices like swipe and face recognition. It’s necessary to see the fact that face recognition is just for unlocking the device and it cannot be used to open Samsung pay or other secure data folders.”

Hence this was all about the latest news on the Samsung galaxy S8. Have you read our first look on The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 plus? Stay tuned to kninevox for further updates on the galaxy S8 and other new devices in the markets all over the world. Don’t forget to join us on Facebook and twitter to get latest update on your smartphones.