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Lenovo Trying Face Recognition For Logins On New Laptops
judgecorp writes "Lenovo's new IdeaPads will be using face recognition as a way to replace passwords for users logging onto the laptops. 'Lenovo's VeriFace combines the Windows login and file encryption to password-protect individual files. It identifies users by matching unique features of their faces to photographs taken by the 1.3-megapixel webcam built into the laptop. When Windows users start up their PCs, a camera window pops up in the login frame. The user then just has to adjust their position so their face appears in the window, and VeriFace logs them in automatically.' That could be good, but is the technology really ready for mass market devices? HP ran into trouble when its face recognition software had trouble recognizing people with darker skin."
Was there any breakthrough in face recognition recently? It was easy to defeat as of last year.
http://www.internetnews.com/security/article.php/3804906/Facial-Recognition-Gets-a-Black-Eye-at-Black-Hat.htm
I hadn't known there were so many idiots in the world until I started using the Internet -Stanislaw Lem
Cnet even ran a piece over a year ago talking about Lenovo's response to subversion of the facial recognition system at a hacker conference. The general gist of the response was basically "we only use it on consumer grade laptops" and "we're constantly working to improve it".
Lenovo is not breaking any new ground here. My 1.5-year-old Toshiba Qosmio can with face-recognition software. The software works equally well with my face or a 1:1 photo of my face - either color or b/w. I think I will stick with passwords for now.
Finger print readers are about the easiest of the biometrics to crack. The press-and-hold type of scanners you can usually just use fingerprint dust and clear tape to fool them, and you can get a good print right off the scanner. For the slide-type readers, you have to lift the finger print then make a transparency to break in. Not exactly difficult.
Seriously, Mythbusters did an episode on it, and it was shockingly easy to break into a fingerprint locked computer or door.
Stick with a password if you care anything at all about your data. If you don't want anybody to get your data ever, encrypt and lock your machine with a passphrase. If you just want to nominally lock the machine (like setting the little chain lock on an apartment door or using WEP for your wireless router), then biometrics are fine.
Security is mostly a superstition... Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. - Helen Keller
I didn't even try that, although its an obvious test.
Lenovo's face recognition failed for me because it slows down the login process. Even where it worked right off the bat (which it didn't always) it has to load the software, take the picture, scan it, then analyze it. If your face isn't optimally positioned, you have to stop what you're doing and orient yourself correctly to give the software a chance.
The result was far *slower* than typing a password in, so what was the point? If it were as instantaneous, flexible and reliable as human face recognition, that would be a different matter.
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