Facial Recognition Flaw?

I just had two thoughts about the facial recognition features that come with Alienware/Dell....

1) Surely someone can use a photo of you and hold it in front of the camera?
2) What if you have a twin.

It would be interesting to see if number 1 works, does anyone fancy giving it a try, I dont have my machine yet.

Leemo

 

my friend tried to use a picture of me on his phone, it didn't work.

I have a twin, and his face works

 

a picture won't work if you have a twin let your beard grow for 2 month he will be forced to wait at least 2 month befor being able to open the laptop

 

You are officially genius

 

haha, i'm not sure if that's genius. You have to keep with the same beard if you wanna use your own laptop ;]

 

Thanks very much for your questions. Actually, FastAccess has industry leading photo rejection capability and as such has been used for years not only by consumers but also by high security industries such as hospitals and banks.

In general only very specific types of photos will allow access. Typically these are photos taken from the same perspective and lighting as the webcam on the computer. Unlike other face recognition, FastAccess rejects most other types of photos and video.

Of course all computer security methods including biometrics have weaknesses. If a successful photo threat is likely (fairly uncommon due to the inherently strong rejection), FastAccess provides the option for very convenient and extremely secure Dual Factor security without requiring lengthy and frequent password entries.

As this is a fairly in-depth topic, I'd recommend reading Sensible Vision's (the manufacturer of FastAccess and Alienware - for whom I work) FAQs for more detailed information. I listed a few of of the most relevant below and there are many more on the site.

Can someone break into my account using a photograph of me?
Under what conditions COULD someone use a photograph of me to gain access to my account?
What about a “brute force” photo attack?
What about twins?
What is Dual Factor (or “Face + Password”) security and why would I need it?

 

I know this was at least a half joke , but actually no you wouldn't. FastAccess automatically (and uniquely) learns and adapts to changing appearance and environment so as to maintain both high security and good recognition performance.

What happens if I put a phone to my ear, take off my glasses, grow a beard or otherwise change my appearance?

 

yup if you grow your beard day per day the system will adapt if you shave clean the system won't but you just have to enter your password again



ow btw svrep i don't knwo what happened to aliensens but there is no way to make it start on my computer and i'm back on official alienware bios

 

Contact me directly and we'll work on it. A de-install and re-install of the Command Center may be in order.

 

I noticed that it goes by specific lighting conditions. I can't log in using my own face (not my spares) at places I haven't been before.

I assume the reason pictures don't work is because they couldn't really match the exact lighting profiles it's used to.

 

Good observation. Yes, it is anticipated that if something changes dramatically (such as lighting) that you may need to log in manually to acquire biometric templates to account for the new conditions. This is quite intentional as FastAccess is a true security product - not a toy - and as such it's always better to take the conservative route and ask for a password if there's any doubt as to the user's identity. Other solutions may take a more lenient stance toward visible changes, but invariably risk making more mistaken recognitions as a result.

As a side note, we ARE working on the next generation of recognition algorithm at present. One of the goals of this algorithm is to be more tolerant of lighting changes without compromising the accuracy and photo rejection that our users expect.

You are correct, though lighting is just one of many variables that FastAccess uses to distinguish photos.

 

I have new bug with FastAccess: it does not lock the display if I'm not in front of it anymore, but if I play any video in Firefox (youtube, southparkstudios.com) in full-screen mode - after changing player window from full-screen back to normal - it locks the display and tries to find my face.

 

i have a worst one i fixed the old issue where i could not get aliensens to work it needed a bios flash and a reformat but i got something new i changed my user folder to the D drive and now aliensens cant unlock the laptop if im adrealy logged in but the screen locked it keep saying wrong password or user name and show 2 accound with the same user name

 

The second part of what you said is expected behavior - the locking after a full-screen movie. There is an option under "Advanced" called "Enable Full-Screen program detection". If selected, any automatic desktop locking will be supressed when you run a program in full-screen mode. When the program is stopped, the desktop will lock in order to recognize your face and resume normal continuous security. If you don't want this, simply turn off the option. Here's the FAQ on the topic:
What is "Enable Full Screen Program Detection"?

For the first part (the failed desktop locking), I'd first like to confirm what security mode you're running in before making any other suggestions. Assuming that you're in Continuous Security mode, then please also confirm that you were recognized or that your face was in clear view when logging in. You can tell that this was the case when the "FA" icon in the system tray is green (not red or blinking green and yellow).

 

Aliensense does not affect how Windows is logged into. It simply feeds your username and password through to the credential provider when your face is recognized.

That said, I'd recommend a de-install and re-install of the command center to see if that resolves anything. With all the movement of user folders, changing of bios's etc., we'd definitely need to start with a clean slate, so to speak, in order to pin anything down. Contact me directly if you would like further assistance.