That Fancy Facial Recognition Feature On The New iPhone? Yeah, It Can Be Hacked.

On November 3, Apple released the new iPhone X, boasting a number of new features including wireless charging, an all-screen front and, most notably, Face ID.

The facial recognition system — which allows users to unlock their phones, authenticate Apple Pay online and make purchases on the iTunes Store, the App Store and the iBooks Store — is marketed as an innovative and effective form of authentication, but is it as secure as Apple claims? No, according to hackers who say it only took them a week to fool Face ID with a mask.

On November 10, Vietnamese security firm Bkav announced it had created a mask of a test subject’s face with 3-D-printed plastic, silicone, makeup and paper cutouts — and it successfully unlocked the phone.

Of course, given the time and effort required to make the mask, this doesn’t pose much of a threat to average users. However, there are other ways to trick the facial recognition. Take this mother and son, for example. The woman’s Face ID has her face registered, but her son can still unlock it with his.

Some twins have been able to hack it as well…

… but even siblings who aren’t twins have managed to trick Face ID. Again, this isn’t a huge problem unless you have sneaky family members with bad intentions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxLlhfTB3LU

(via Wired)

“This is still not the kind of attack the average person on the street should worry about,” Marc Rogers, a researcher for security firm Cloudflare, said about Bkav’s mask. “It’s still probably easier to snatch the phone and just show it to someone to unlock it.” You can learn more about Bkav’s demonstration here.