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Farce ID: The OnePlus 6 flagship fell for a photo

OnePlus 6 facial recognition being tricked using a photo (Source: rik)
OnePlus 6 facial recognition being tricked (Source: rik)
Although the OnePlus 6 has been well received and provides an excellent value, the fingerprint and the PIN/password remain the safest methods of unlocking it. A recent statement coming directly from OnePlus makes it clear that face unlocking alone cannot deliver an optimal level of security yet.

If you missed the failures of the iPhone X when it came to facial recognition, it looks like the time has come for the new OnePlus 6 to follow the same fate. A few minutes ago, I bumped into this video and, if we overlook the poor English, we can quickly draw the conclusion that even if your twin has a different hairstyle, using only facial recognition to secure your OnePlus 6 is a no-go if you want to hide something from him. Sadly, this gets even worse, because the OnePlus 6 was also tricked with the help of a printed photo.

A Twitter user from the Netherlands who simply goes by as rik posted a short video accompanied by the following message: "I printed my face to unlock my OnePlus 6 for the lulz... it worked  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯" To see the video, just go here. To make it all even more shameful for OnePlus, rik also followed the suggestion of a Twitter follower and tried with a black and white photo, which unexpectedly worked as well.

OnePlus has just sent the following statement to PhoneArena concerning this issue: "We designed Face Unlock around convenience, and while we took corresponding measures to optimise its security we always recommended you use a password/PIN/fingerprint for security. For this reason Face Unlock is not enabled for any secure apps such as banking or payments. We’re constantly working to improve all of our technology, including Face Unlock."

These being said, remains to see what comes next. I guess someone will unlock the OnePlus 6 using a hand-drawn portrait or something similar. Obviously, this does not make the OnePlus 6 a bad handset — it only shows once again that facial recognition is still nothing more but a marketing gimmick.

Source(s)

rik (on Twitter)

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Codrut Nistor, 2018-05-30 (Update: 2018-05-30)