Experts have found a new unexpected vulnerability in the protection of modern gadgets, built on the analysis of biometric data. Forbes journalist Thomas Brewster ordered a detailed copy of his head printed on a 3D printer. Further, with its help, he checked the protection of many popular smartphones and came to a disappointing conclusion.
Brewster tried to unlock the devices, substituting for scanning not his face, but his detailed plastic copy. And only the Apple's Face ID system in the iPhone refused, while all the flagship Samsung models easily accepted the substitution. It is worth noting that for the human eye, a copy of the head was obviously artificial and even coarse, but the sensors of the smartphone were not suspicious.
This is not the most pleasant discovery makes skeptical of those who argue that the time of alphanumeric passwords has passed, and the future is only biometrics. Alas, the latest tricks of hackers and science enthusiasts show that both fingerprints and iris patterns, and now their faces, are much simpler to fake than it seemed before. And relying only on such methods of blocking gadgets recklessly.
An additional disadvantage is that getting a 3D copy of an unknown person’s head is even easier than fingerprint samples. A few high-resolution frames are sufficient for this, and if there are clear-cut recordings of outdoor security cameras, then the task is completely reduced to laboratory work for computer students. It is not excluded that such methods have long been in service with the special services.