Could Smartphone Facial Recognition Replace Passwords?

Recently, US computer networking corporation Cisco Systems placed passwords alongside data encryption as one of the foundations of 21st century IT security. However, passwords could soon be on their way out and, in their place, effective facial recognition systems introduced to give smartphones the highest achievable level of security protection.

At the very end of 2011, Apple made a patent application based on facial recognition software which would allow users to unlock iPads, iPhones and iPod Touches by showing them their faces.

Apple Facial Recognition Patent

With the title ‘Low Threshold Face Recognition', the Apple facial recognition patent was subsequently written about on the Apple Insider news/rumours website. This described how, ‘using a forward-facing camera to recognise an individual user, future iPhones and iPads from Apple could automatically customise applications, settings and features to a user's personal preferences once they pick up the device.'

It added that, rather than scanning entire faces, the technology would concentrate on specific feature areas, like the distance that separates the mouth from the eyes, in a bid to keep associated energy use to a minimum. It's also believed that additional customable features, like one-off settings such as wallpaper, could be used to enhance this software.

Smartphone: Facial Recognition

Google's Android 4.0 operating system, released in November 2011, already boasts a smartphone facial recognition element but this might not yet be advanced enough to consign passwords to the history books.

Just days after Android 4.0's release, online reports emerged questioning the effectiveness of its facial recognition technology since, apparently, it's not foolproof. Indeed, as per PC Mag, one blogger managed to access his phone by presenting it with a photo, which the in-built camera assumed was the real thing. That opens up the possibility of security being compromised and, said PC Mag, actually puts the technology behind character-based passwords and PINs so far as safety's concerned.

Security Technology will report further on both Google Android 4.0 and Apple's Low Threshold Face Recognition in future News coverage.

Android 4.0 image copyright Android Open Source project - Courtesy Wikimedia Commons