Samsung recently launched its flagship smartphone, the samsung galaxy s8. The latest smartphone boasts its high screen to body ratio, super-slim bezels, and the ultra-fast Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor. Aside from those, it also flaunts a load of biometric authentication features. Among these functions include the iris scanner, fingerprint sensor, and the Facial Recognition. Given several days after its launch, many analysts have already discovered a number of loopholes from the South Korean flagship device.
Facial Recognition massive flaw
A video from a Spanish Periscope user Macianophone showed how vulnerable the Facial Recognition feature of Samsung Galaxy S8.
From the video uploaded, on the six-minute mark, the attendee can be seen taking his photo using his personal phone. Afterward, he pointed the picture to the recently launched flagship device, which is configured to unlock using his face. The device gave in after only a few minutes of fiddling and unlocked using only the photo of the user.
Google’s Face Unlock
When Google added the Face Unlock feature in Android 4.0 in 2011, it has encountered the same issue that the South Korean tech giant is experiencing today. It was later improved in the Android 4.1 when the company added the liveness check in an attempt to solve the photo vulnerability by requiring users to blink. This feature was still bypassed by creative geniuses who simply have two photos one with eyes closed and one with eyes opened.
With the latest security flaw discovered, it appears that Samsung made its Face Recognition feature from scratch up reflecting that it is repeating the very same mistake that Google made.
The Facial Recognition feature is only one among the three security features of the Samsung Galaxy S8. These features will be used in unlocking the phone, and in authorizing Samsung Pay.
Using the latest feature with known vulnerabilities would only make your device insecure. It is still best to use pins and password in locking your smartphones.
The good news about this recently discovered flaw is that the company acknowledges it. Also, they still have ample amount of time to fix it until it becomes available to consumers. The latest flagship device will be released on April 21.
