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Hackers Say They've Broken Face ID a Week After iPhone X Release (wired.com)
Andy Greenberg, writing for Wired: When Apple released the iPhone X on November 3, it touched off an immediate race among hackers around the world to be the first to fool the company's futuristic new form of authentication. On Friday, Vietnamese security firm Bkav released a blog post and video showing that -- by all appearances -- they'd cracked Face ID with a composite mask of 3-D-printed plastic, silicone, makeup, and simple paper cutouts, which in combination tricked an iPhone X into unlocking. That demonstration, which has yet to be confirmed publicly by other security researchers, could poke a hole in the expensive security of the iPhone X, particularly given that the researchers say their mask cost just $150 to make. But it's also a hacking proof-of-concept that, for now, shouldn't alarm the average iPhone owner, given the time, effort, and access to someone's face required to recreate it. Bkav, meanwhile, didn't mince words in its blog post and FAQ on the research. "Apple has done this not so well," writes the company. "Face ID can be fooled by mask, which means it is not an effective security measure."
.... ain't all asian all look alike anyway?
Authentication is predicated upon knowing a secret, which your face isn't
If you remember, Touchid was similarly soon broken, and it also required quite some commitment from the hacker.
Still, for most people the security of TouchId was good enough and practical in use.
I expect the same with FaceID. For the utmost in security, users can always opt for a passcode.
... that its "Bphone the best smartphone the world" (2015). It sank without a trace.
I'd treat that their claims that "Apple has done this not so well" and "Face ID can be fooled by mask, which means it is not an effective security measure" with a grain of salt. Of course their company is from Vietnam, "land of fakes" https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/ci... where scandal after scandal of dangerous, counterfeit and frank outright fraud is commonplace.
Unfortunately I have firsthand experience of this :(
You also have to have the equipment, time and expertise to pull this off. And I guess some kind of 3D model of the person's head? Not sure, haven't read TFA. Personally if I lost my phone I'd immediately have it wiped and locked via MDM. So unless this was all carefully orchestrated before hand, I think I'm ok.
So, what exactly is wrong with having to enter a passcode, anyway?
FaceID reminds me of this xkcd comic.
Except that you no longer need the wrench...
Fanatically anti-fanatical
Or you can do what everybody who cares a lick about security does and set a fully alphanumeric passcode instead. Also, the 6 digit pin option has been available for years.
I read the internet for the articles.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to somehow sedate the subject and create a life cast of their face without them figuring out that you're doing it. You must then jump though a bunch of other hoops in order to unlock the subject's phone. You are under no circumstances to use the subject's own face to unlock their phone. Should you or any of your IM force be caught or killed, you will be mocked mercilessly on Slashdot.
If you get arrested, they unlock the phone by holding it up to your face. That doesn't even require a mask. It's the opposite of security.
Now I need to get a new face!
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
What happens when a person suffers an injury to their face? A serious black eye, swelling, etc? Do they get locked out of their phone at a time when that's probably the last thing they want to have to deal with?
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Face recognition is less secure than good fingerprint scanning, which includes capillary response and other non-visible checks. I'm frankly surprised it took them this long.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
You can also create fake finger prints if you can get a good model print.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
So, don't cross a bridge? Don't go in a house? Don't walk on a pavement?
Where the fuck are you writing this from?
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
The researcher shows that the phone unlocks when presented with his face, but it doesn't show the enrollment or training phase.
For the sake of transparency, it would be nice to see that enrollment was done on his normal face without using any part of the mask or other shenanigans. And since the scanner apparently 'learns' from failed scans where you immediately enter the (correct) passcode, that's another route by which he could corrupt the enrolled data -- he could scan the mask and then enter his passcode enough times that it 'learns' the wrong thing.
If either of those are true, it only shows that the authorized user can enroll data that's close enough to both his real face and a mask that both unlock it.
You're quite behind the times.
iOS since at least version 4 and possibly earlier has allowed 6 digit code and even an alphanumeric passcodes. Only recently (with the addition of TouchID) have the phones *defaulted* to 6 digit passcodes.. but 4 digit hasn't been the only option for more than 7 years.
They'll be able to have a 3d printer at their HQ, photograph the recipient, and viola - privacy violated.
I hate to say this, but the ability to scan someones face for 3D without them knowing it isn't far fetched. The accuracy with which software can take 2D video and make 3D data models is quite frightening. But ya, it's all a little far fetched. You'd need someones phone and a map of their face. Here's what is better. Add a 4 digit pin!
Well it looks like the police won't need to rely on the prisoner to divulge a password anymore. They can just do a 3D mug-shot, make a mask and open up the phone.
"Apple has done this not so well," writes the company. "Face ID can be fooled by mask, which means it is not an effective security measure."
Isn't that true of any biometric-only authentication system? Fingerprint, face, iris, voice... they can all be emulated with enough effort. It's a darn convenient security measure, however, which under the right circumstances is augmented by a strong passcode.
Assuming that it's sufficiently accurate, Face ID is a great authentication system for inconsequential people. IE: People who don't have a lot of money nor power, which is a very large portion of the population.
For those that do have some kind of responsibility, ie: managers, IT staff, etc, it's bad.
If said individuals work for a major corporation and/or deal with sensitive information, it's downright idiotic. A biometric authentication system that doesn't even require you to be near the individual to unlock a device with sensitive data is foolish, especially today when people have access to 3D cameras and printers, and can do a targeted attack relatively inexpensively.
It's not Mission Impossible type stuff, but it's not far off.
The researchers concede, however, that their technique would require a detailed measurement or digital scan of a the face of the target iPhone's owner. The researchers say they used a handheld scanner that required about five minutes of manually scanning their test subject's face.
So they haven't really broken anything. It turns out if you sit there and let them scan your face for 5 minutes they can make a model that can bypass a scanner in a consumer device. I'm surprised that it isn't possible to make a perfectly matched face that could fool a human with that kind of scanning.
Non-story.
- Vincit qui patitur.
iOS has required a 6-digit PIN (or passphrase) to use TouchID for ages. I doubt they've regressed for FaceID.
In either case you can press the power button 5 times quickly to disable TouchID and require the passcode to be entered.
Authentication is predicated upon knowing a secret, which your face isn't
Authentication has nothing inherently to do with secrets. It's merely the act of proving you are who you say you are or verifying some other fact. In some cases secret information can aid in this or make it more dependable but most authentication is actually done with publicly available non-secret information. People recognize your face on a daily basis which is the most basic form of authentication. Sometimes it is useful to layer a secret passcode onto some item you possess or some bio-metric identifier but those merely enhance the confidence of the authentication.
It is more and more obvious that face recognition-based authentication does not solve any significant problems, while introducing issues of its own - most notably, as many have already pointed out, once your face as been compromised, you can't easily change it. The bottom line is, this will deter the opportunistic agents. Those sufficiently well funded and determined (and, on the basis of the article, the do not have to be all that well funded or determined) will still crack it. ANd the truth is that there are far simpler approaches to deter opportunistic agents. Face recognition-based authentication has its place, but it is a teeny-weeny niche. Hype and hoopla aside, that is.
It's still harder to fake than a finger scan, potentially saving planes from being redirected mid flight You leave prints everywhere and can be scanned while asleep or non compliant. You don't as of yet leave a highly detailed face scan everywhere and it won't work with your eyes closed or face contorted. You are required to use a password in any case. If the faceID gets a couple of fails you need to use the password to unlock even if you then provide the right face; this was demonstrated live on tv at the official launch.
If it is no worse than a thumbprint, then why is it news? We've had fingerprint based unlocking for years--did you just now find out about it?.
Also, FaceID doesn't work if you're unconscious.
Also, if somebody is willing to beat you to death to get into your locked phone, then what form of security is going to stop that?
It seriously took 10 seconds to completely destroy your argument, maybe try harder next time.
Just have one guy hold the person still while you hold the phone up to their face? I still can't believe anybody thought this was a good idea.
Out of curiosity: IIRC, the iPhone projects some IR dots on the face, and reconstructs a 3D model based on the distortion of the projected pattern using a rather regular 2D camera.
Is that pattern fixed?
If so, would it be possible to block the projection, and "simply" show the sensor the pattern that should appear?
I bet it's not that easy, but i'd like to know why?
Does she give you a secret passcode when you pick her up from daycare? No? Then how do you know that she's not an imposter? After all, her appearance is public knowledge.
Here's how:
1. trusted authentication hardware/sensors : You trust your own eyes, you are pretty certain that no one has done a MIM attack in the path from your visual cortex to the child's face.
2. weighing cost-to-defeat vs. benefit : sure it's possible to find another child and do elaborate plastic surgery or a mask, but that's a fantastical notion considering the costs involved when weighed against any possible benefit
3. chain of custody : Your daughter has been with you or with people you trust the entire time. One of them likely would have warned you that a black van appeared, took your daughter for a couple hours, and then returned her
4. If any of #1-#3 are in doubt then you can always fall back to asking her something only she would know (i.e., a secret)
This is, more or less, exactly the way that TouchID or FaceID works. The sensors are in a secure, encrypted domain that's outrageously difficult to hack and would require getting your phone out of your possession without you knowing it. Successfully hacking into your phone would be extremely expensive and thus not worth it. And whenever Apple becomes a little suspicious that someone is trying to hack in (i.e., when the phone gets rebooted, when you hit the power button 5 times, when the SW is updated, after 48 hours of you not logging in) then it reverts to a mode where it insists on you entering a secret.
You have made the child-like mistake of thinking that any form of security that is theoretically breakable is worthless. In fact, there is no such thing as perfect security--the goal is ALWAYS to increase the cost & effort required such that breaking the security is not economically practical.
It doesn't. In fact it doesn't use the front-facing video camera at all. Try again.
It uses special a 3d depth-sensing IR-based system.
Look at all this trouble that researchers went through to "crack" the phone. $150 in materials, silicone, 3D printing, makeup, printouts. Oh, and they have to borrow your face to make the measurements. Apple should be chuckling.
Why this need to spread misinformation? It doesn't add anything useful to the conversation.
On iOS you can choose not only 4 digit pin or 6 digit pin but also a custom length numeric code, or a custom alphanumeric code.
If you're worried about a random thief stealing your phone and identity, use pin or biometric, if you're worried about certain agencies use a custom long and complex passcode.
What gets me is that I correctly predicted, based upon the fine work with 3D printing, image recognition, and the actual parameters and technology used to FaceID, that this was possible, and, indeed, probable.
But you thought "oh no, Mr Bill, the Security Gods have promised us it's secure".
Look, if you want to be safe, turn off your Bluetooth and don't let your WiFi connect to other services that aren't secure, and don't use fingerprint or FaceID.
It's that simple.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Whereas, of course, Apple will make no attempts to further harden and improve FaceID.
You somehow managed to internalize the exact opposite of the moral of that xkcd strip. Bravo.
Or be like Peter Griffin and only use it while drunk.
>> Hackers Say They've Broken Face ID a Week After iPhone X Release
It was already broken at the demo.
aaaaaaa
Great, now not only is your iPhone hacked, you also have to go through the rest of your life looking like Nicolas Cage: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...