Samsung launched its new flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus, at its Unpacked 2017 event on Wednesday in New York, with both IRIS and Facial Recognition features, making it easier for users to unlock their smartphone and signing into websites.
All users need to do is simply hold their Galaxy S8 or S8 Plus in front of their eyes or their entire face, as if they were taking a
Your driver’s license photo could be scarier than it actually looks — Well, here’s why:
With the help of state driver’s license data, U.S. law enforcement agencies have created a huge a face-recognition database of more than 117 Million American adults that are regularly scanned in the course of police investigations.
What’s even worse? Most of those people who are scanned by police without
Is Google or Facebook evil? Forget it!
Russian nerds have developed a new Face Recognition technology based app called FindFace, which is a nightmare for privacy lovers and human right advocates.
FindFace is a terrifyingly powerful facial recognition app that lets you photograph strangers in a crowd and find their real identity by connecting them to their social media accounts with 70%
In this hi-tech age, your face is increasingly becoming a digital ID for authenticating who you are online. We look at how facial recognition works.
The post How does facial recognition technology work? appeared first on We Live Security.
Facial recognition software has a bad reputation. Associations with surveillance state and future visions of corporate tracking and advertising like in the movie Minority Report make facial recognition seem like an intrusive and objectifying technology tearing at the last remnants of our privacy.
While there are legitimate concerns about some uses of facial recognition technology, there are also a huge number of wonderful and innovative ways it can be applied to improve our daily lives.
Facial recognition software and the growing accuracy with which technology can accurately discern human features is starting to become a real benefit to people with disabilities.
The recently unveiled “XploR mobility cane” uses facial recognition technology to scan approaching people and alert the user when someone they know is approaching.
Likewise, the Samsung Memory Recaller is an app designed to help Alzheimers sufferers recognize the faces of friends and loved ones.
Samsung Memory Recaller from Bbdo Proximity Thailand on Vimeo.
While Google has recently shelved planned to commercially release a facial recognition search due to privacy concerns, their acquisition of PittPatt shows there is still interest in the technology. The recent earthquakes in Nepal have underlined the importance of international search and rescue efforts. Facial recognition can be a huge help when used in conjunction with other online search and recovery tools such as Google’s Person Finder to help identify missing people and put them in touch with friends and family.
When most people think of facial recognition, they naturally think of people, but work is already afoot applying this technology to our furry friends. Apps such as PiP My Pet use the same facial recognition technology to identify lost pets.
Despite what many people may think, facial recognition will almost certainly make the technology of the future more secure and easy to use. I’ve written before about the merits and shortcomings of biometric security but recent buzz around Microsoft’s How-Old.net and Facebook’s DeepFace tagging technology show that there is a lot of research going into this area.
Very soon, web enabled devices will be able to discern our identity with complete accuracy meaning that identity specific items such as keys, wallets, ticket and passports could become things of the past. Using technology will also become easier with facial recognition helping alleviate some of the headaches caused by remembering multiple passwords and login credentials.
Do you have a favorite use for facial recognition technology? Do you think it is a good or bad thing? Let me know on Twitter or on Facebook.
Title image courtesy of Engadget.com
Whether we like it or not, it seems that biometric security is rapidly becoming the norm.
In March alone, Samsung unveiled new iris scanning technology, Microsoft announced facial recognition for Windows 10, Asus introduced fingerprint scanning and Qualcomm, Fujitsu and Intel all jumped in with biometric tools of their own.
Why are we seeing such rapid adoption?
Although it may still seem futuristic, modern biometric security has been around for a number of years. You could argue though that it was only with the launch of the iPhone 5S and its fingerprint scanner that people really started to take notice.
Now, fuelled by convenience, biometric security is at the forefront of our minds. After all, why remember a password or have to input a code when your device can simply scan you and authorize access?
Is it secure?
While few people can argue that biometric security is not convenient, there are still question marks over its viability as a robust security measure.
SRI, who developed Samsung’s iris scanning technology claim that “tests have shown this purely iris-based solution to be more than 1,000 times more accurate than published fingerprint data.” This begs the question, how secure is fingerprint data?
Not all that secure it turns out. In October 2014, a hacker known as Starbug accurately replicated the fingerprint of the German Minister of Defense from nothing other than hi-res images taken of her at an event.
More recently, AVG’s own researchers from the Innovation Lab in Amsterdam developed a set of ‘Invisibility Glasses’ that used specialist materials and technology to successfully counteract facial recognition technology.
We’ve written many times before about the pros and cons of biometric security, from speculating on the future to busting myths.
However for now, it’s clear that if biometric security is really going to become our de-facto method of authentication, we need to make sure it is rigorously tested.
Developed by AVG Innovation Labs, the glasses help protect your visual identity in the digital age.
Through a mixture of technology and specialist materials, privacy wearables such as invisibility glasses can make it difficult for cameras or other facial recognition technologies to get a clear view of your identity.
For more information on AVG’s Invisibility Glasses check out this blog post.
