"Face unlock" feature of ICS fail...

[Pliablemoose]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwfYSR7HttA

LULZ...

(For the record, I like Android a lot, but you have to admit, this is pretty sad)

 

[sjwaste]

Haha, well there goes that. I'm sure there will be some kind of software fix, but without a second camera to detect depth, I'm not sure that I'd rely on it if I actually had to lock my phone.

 

[vshah]

so clearly only for convenience/cool factor and not all for security, kinda sad.

 

[gevorg]

These kind of things are expected from first-gen/new products. Current capabilities of AI and advanced algorithms is just a tip of the iceberg. Assume everything is beta.

Also see Siri frustration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiU8GPlsZqE

 

[vshah]

reminds me of that ipad2 smart cover unlock video...never figured out if that was real or not though.

 

[Anubis]

not sure what the issue is, if i lose my phone chances of someone being able to unlock it from a photo of me is non existent

 

[Spoooon]

not sure what the issue is, if i lose my phone chances of someone being able to unlock it from a photo of me is non existent

Yeah. While, ideally it would not work from a photo, people that I would not want to have access to the phone are not likely to have a photo of me anyway.

I had just kind of looked at as a convenience/cool factor thing anyway as opposed to a way of locking the phone down in an iron clad manner.

 

[Pliablemoose]

https://twitter.com/#!/timbray/status/126510193323409408

 

[soccerballtux]

Yeah. While, ideally it would not work from a photo, people that I would not want to have access to the phone are not likely to have a photo of me anyway.

I had just kind of looked at as a convenience/cool factor thing anyway as opposed to a way of locking the phone down in an iron clad manner.

you mean all the photos you took that are stored on the SD card on the phone they stole/you lost wouldn't work??

 

[Pliablemoose]

I can see the phone thiefs now, they'll mug you and take a picture of you so they can unlock your phone

 

[NikolaeVarius]

you mean all the photos you took that are stored on the SD card on the phone they stole/you lost wouldn't work??

Are you a 15 year old girl and have pictures of yourself close to the camera, looking straight at it, and nothing else at all in the photo?

 

[Pliablemoose]

Are you a 15 year old girl and have pictures of yourself close to the camera, looking straight at it, and nothing else at all in the photo?

Have you ever owned a phone with a FFC? I'd bet nearly everyone with a FFC has one of those pics

 

[soccerballtux]

Are you a 15 year old girl and have pictures of yourself close to the camera, looking straight at it, and nothing else at all in the photo?

so you're saying you don't have any 8 megapixel photos of you and your friends in front of place XYZ? This would be plenty sufficient.

 

[Fire&Blood]

So the FF camera can be fooled using pictures. This would be news worthy if the FF cam couldn't be cheated.

But that's not where security features fail. The question is how long it takes the thief to shut off the device.

If one (sophisticated) thief has physical possession off any phone, it's over. Once turned off to dodge tracking, in a controlled (no reception) environment, any phone's feature can be hacked.

you mean all the photos you took that are stored on the SD card on the phone they stole/you lost wouldn't work??

Phone doesn't have a SD card. Still, actual possession of a device>all security features. Face unlock is cute but all it can do is stall thief's access to your phone but my guess is first thing a thief would do is shut the phone off anyway, remove from scene and then ponder the hacking options.

The actual theft is key here, even a fool-proof camera would be useless once the phone is lost and the thief is removed enough from the scene to hack it.

 

[Pliablemoose]

So the FF camera can be fooled using pictures. This would be news worthy if the FF cam couldn't be cheated.

But that's not where security features fail. The question is how long it takes the thief to shut off the device.

If one (sophisticated) thief has physical possession off any phone, it's over. Once turned off to dodge tracking, in a controlled (no reception) environment, any phone's feature can be hacked.



Phone doesn't have a SD card. Still, actual possession of a device>all security features. Face unlock is cute but all it can do is stall thief's access to your phone but my guess is first thing a thief would do is shut the phone off anyway, remove from scene and then ponder the hacking options.

The actual theft is key here, even a fool-proof camera would be useless once the phone is lost and the thief is removed enough from the scene to hack it.

But what if the thief crossed the international date line during a leap year and actually went back in time to steal the information from the phone?

 

[Anubis]

Have you ever owned a phone with a FFC? I'd bet nearly everyone with a FFC has one of those pics

yes i have,

and no i don't take photos of myself with it, also i can count on 1 hand the number of photos of me that exist on the internet. 90% of them uploaded by me

so you're saying you don't have any 8 megapixel photos of you and your friends in front of place XYZ? This would be plenty sufficient.

nope, if im taking the picture im not in it, which is most times, if someone else takes it its not my phone, also in general if i am someplace where photos will be taken a phone will not be used

 

[sgrinavi]

Pfft.... I don't lock my phone now. If I do use the face unlock feature it'll be for a novelty / party trick.

 

[JS80]

Easy workaround this...instead of static face, make it face motion and track the person do a facial expression (i.e. smile, etc).

 

[soccerballtux]

Pfft.... I don't lock my phone now. If I do use the face unlock feature it'll be for a novelty / party trick.

I'd rather just draw a pattern, seems too slow to have to hold phone up to face and angle myself to keep any bright light sources from the background

 

[Mopetar]

Easy workaround this...instead of static face, make it face motion and track the person do a facial expression (i.e. smile, etc).

Unless it's some complex sequence of facial motions, it can probably be fooled by a video. It's not too much harder than getting a picture. It might even be possible to recreate the sequence of actions from several different video clips as well.

If you're really serious about your phones security you'll lock it down with a strong password and use multiple forms of authentication.

 

[Spoooon]

Unless it's some complex sequence of facial motions, it can probably be fooled by a video. It's not too much harder than getting a picture. It might even be possible to recreate the sequence of actions from several different video clips as well.

If you're really serious about your phones security you'll lock it down with a strong password and use multiple forms of authentication.

Yes. When I cared about it, I protected mine with a good password just in case one of the punk kids I work with grabs it. Now, I just use the gesture lock and keep it locked in my office.

I think it's just a cool/convenience thing that will last the first week or so of using the phone.

And no to whoever asked, I actually do not have any pictures of myself on my phone.

 

[LikeLinus]

That sucks. I mean the unfortunate thing is that your battery last so long it gives them plenty of time to get a photo and hack your phone. Maybe Google can release an update that can kill battery life so they don't have time to hack your phone?

Hell, sometimes you don't even need a photo to hack into a phone

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/10/iphone-snoop/#ixzz13vhxmaMg

http://www.appletell.com/technologytell/article/ios-keychain-system-cracked-passwords-now-at-risk/

LULZ

(For the record, I like Android Apple a lot, but you have to admit, this is pretty sad.)

Yawn.

 

[WelshBloke]

Was the face unlock thing ever supposed to be a security thing?

I thought it was more an alternative to slide to unlock.

 

[Trader05]

I wonder if siblings can unlock the phone also, in the case that whomever looks exactly alike or similar.

 

[LikeLinus]

Was the face unlock thing ever supposed to be a security thing?

I thought it was more an alternative to slide to unlock.

Google does not represent this as being a security feature. Some people just like to pick on Android because they're idiots. You see, stupid people like to find flaws in things and try to make "lulz" when they don't understand the basic purpose of a feature.

Android indicates that facial recognition unlocking is "less secure than a pattern, PIN, or password" when a user goes to set up the feature. Google does not represent this as a "security" feature, but it's an alternative / hands-free way of unlocking a phone. Google says on their page "No more having to remember complicated passwords".

It's a non-issue and dumb fanboys are trying to make it seem like it's something it's not. Go figure.