“Since the invention of the password, you’ve been told to keep yours a secret,” Alfred Ng writes for CNET. “Now Apple wants your password to be your most public feature: your face.”
“That may take some convincing. Most people probably haven’t been exposed to facial recognition technology in their daily lives. To the degree they’re aware of it, they may well be suspicious after years of easily tricked facial recognition software and uncertainty about biometrics in general,” Ng writes. “Enter the iPhone X, the 10th anniversary edition of Apple’s flagship phone, and its Face ID system, which scans your face using an array of cameras and sensors to unlock the device.”
“Touch ID had its share of skeptics when it was released, including politicians who raised privacy concerns about biometrics. That was just for fingerprints. Now Apple has to convince you to use your face to get into your iPhone, even as tech companies wrestle with public concerns about security and privacy,” Ng writes. “As with Touch ID, all the data points from your face will be stored on the iPhone X’s Secure Enclave, a part of the phone’s processor with its own encrypted memory. The data won’t be sent to a server that Apple owns, where hackers might be able to break in and steal massive amounts of private information.”
“‘I’ve done reverse engineering and watched the data flow for the Secure Enclave. There is no data being sent anywhere,’ said Pepijn Bruienne, a research engineer with Duo Security. ‘Face ID will be very similar,'” Ng writes. “‘If the user experience is very smooth,’ [Andrew Blaich, a security researcher at Lookout], ‘you’ll see the adoption grow quickly.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Face ID is very smooth and very secure. However, if you’d like, it’s very easy not to use it and simply rely on a passcode. For maximum security in iOS, in Settings > Passcode, tap Passcode Options and use a custom alphanumeric code.
The Apple sheep will trust no matter what.
Well… since “sheep” implies the masses, and Android has the lion’s share in market share (90% worldwide?) I’d say the sheep were Fandroids, wouldn’t you?
The less people that trust it, the better our chances for getting the X quickly.
The scroll bars disappear behind the notch in landscape mode on Safari. There are big white blocks on the sides in landscape mode in Safari. You have to pull down control center to actually see the numerical battery percentage.
Apple is really making some bad interface choices.
easy fix…quit whining
I wonder what happens if the user abuses the iPhone X. Will the attempt to open to phone using facial ID result instead at the iPhone saying something along the lines of “Go away. I do not know you. Go away.” – perhaps with an animoji!
That’s actually plausible considering the dedicated AI processor is onboard. 😀
So…people don’t question Google keeping your images in their cloud..analyzing them (read the ULA)..but are freaked about facial recognition?? How about the facial recognition that’s been in Photos for a while? How is this less secure regarding personal biometrics than a fingerprint?? Anyone can take a pic of you and make a 3D model of it.
You bring up an interesting point. Does Google already having all that data on your image allow them to implement a similar facial unlock without the user needing to ‘register’ his/her face with devices? Maybe that will lead to unlocking individual accounts on the same Chromebook (or Android device) with just your face, even on those you’ve never previously used.
“M” must not have seen the keynote where Apple employed the best of the best to make masks of people to try and fool Face ID and it failed… Know what your talking about before you spout off..
Fooling FaceID might be an interesting challenge to put on “Face Off”. 😀
You misunderstood. My point is why people are freaking out about face mapping when anyone can map your face. Having your phone do it in a secure way ..and being creeped out by it, isn’t logical at all.
Glad to know it can be bypassed.