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."

Comments

This would be good for my work Blackberry

[hughperkins]

Im tired of unlocking my work blackberry with its tiny keyboard every time I want to check the latest email. Security policy mandates we use a long complicated password, which is a total pain to type every time you want to browse the web, or check the map, or whatever.

Re:This would be good for my work Blackberry

[hughperkins]

> An analogy I often use is; "A good way to secure a car is to remove the wheels and put it up on blocks. It just doesn't make a very good car..."

I bought the cheapest bicycle I could in China, 20 dollars, and it got stolen.

So I bought the cheapest one again, and hit it with a brick for 10 minutes, until the paint is all scratched up, and the mudguards are dented.

Hasnt been stolen yet :-D

Face recognition using just a webcam?

[JaredOfEuropa]

How easy is it to fool this thing? For instance, will holding a picture of the laptop's owner in front of the camera unlock the machine?

To make face recognition more secure, perhaps they should use two camera's and get a 3d scan of the face (can be fooled as well but less easy), or require that the face is moving. Perhaps even ask the user to read a randomly chosen word and lip-read the response.

Re:Who the hell would trust this?

[El Lobo]

I have one of the new IdealPads with face recognition. The computers are gorgeous and face recognition works well. The first thing I tried was to print a photography of mine with good quality on a 4 arc of paper to see if i could fool the program to think that it was the real me. It didn't work, so I think it's ***reasonably*** secure.

so...

[smash]

.. how does it handle identical twins?

Re:Lenovos already use finger print

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

You only get 10 password changes.(not that face readers are any better in that regard).

More realistically, it probably has a lot to do with the fact that fingerprint readers have a per-unit hardware cost, and are typically used to identify the laptop as a "corporate" model, while facial recognition is just software on top of the webcam that virtually all consumer laptops get anyway. It didn't cost nothing to write; but each copy costs nothing to load.

Re:Who the hell would trust this?

[0100010001010011]

Why not both? Haven't slashdotters always said the best security is both something you know (your password) and something you "have" (your face).

Someone gets your password, but doesn't look like you: No entry.

As far as 'holding up a picture" you'd think that with 3D becoming the new fad and tiny cameras being cheap. They'd put 2.
MacBook Pro 2014 1 camera in each corner and the glasses-less 3D technology.

OOo imagine the porn.

Re:Who the hell would trust this?

[Khyber]

Dude, this technology is FAR OLDER THAN YOU THINK.

I ran it on an overclocked 180MHz Compaq back in the mid-90s. It did EXACTLY THIS - Face-recognition as a password.