The Note 8’s facial recognition, just like the one on the Galaxy S8, can be easily fooled by flat photos and is more of a gimmick than a real security feature.
If facial recognition was one of the features you were looking forward to on the newly launched Galaxy Note 8, then you might be in for some disappointment. While the facial recognition feature does work on the smartphone, it can be easily fooled by presenting flat photos to the front facing camera.
A video posted on Twitter by a web developer shows how the Galaxy Note 8 can be unlocked by using the owner’s photo instead of an actual face.
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Facial Recognition Test: pic.twitter.com/dVooMPMgfh
— Mel Tajon (@MelTajon) September 2, 2017
The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 houses three methods to unlock the device including the traditional PIN, facial recognition and iris scanning. However, like its predecessors, the S8 and S8 Plus, the Note 8’s facial recognition can also be fooled easily by using flat photos.
In the video above, you can hear the phone claim that its facial unlock is “easier and more secure than using your PIN.” If the video is to be believed, this is clearly not true. As per a CNET report, Samsung plans to fix what the phone says.
So if you are planning to buy the Galaxy note 8, it’s better you use the fingerprint scanner, Pin or the iris scanner to secure your device. However, if what happened with the S8 repeats itself in the Note 8, even the iris scanner may not be the best method to unlock the device. Back in may, a hacker had managed to fool the S8’s iris scanner by using a printed infrared picture of a person. The same has not yet been tested on the Galaxy Note 8.
The only facial recognition system that cannot be fooled by a flat photo is the one created by Microsoft. Called Windows Hello, the system tested accurately with six pairs of identical twins, which is pretty impressive.
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Adamya Sharma
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