In case you missed it, the good folks over at Strategy Analytics just published a preliminary look at the newest Apple flagship smartphone (iPhone XS) with it’s standout face ID log in feature that gets rid of those pesky fingerprints or loathsome passwords we never can quite get straight. The catch has always been on where this “secure data” is located and who has access.
And the stakes are big, according to Symantec Corp, (maker of Norton Security systems) the face ID market is expected to grow to $7.7B in 2022 from $4B last year, mostly due to the breadth of applications crying out for a better way beyond passwords. This includes everything from surveillance to marketing, the group said on their IOT internet security web site.
Symantics‘ Norton security systems describes face recognition systems as using biometrics to map facial features from a photograph or video. It compares the information with a database of known faces to find a match. Here’s the process as they see it…
Step 1. A picture of your face is captured from a photo or video. Your face might appear alone or in a crowd. Your image may show you looking straight ahead or nearly in profile.
Step 2. Facial recognition software reads the geometry of your face. Key factors include the distance between your eyes and the distance from forehead to chin. The software identifies facial landmarks — one system identifies 68 of them — that are key to distinguishing your face. The result: your facial signature.
Step 3. Your facial signature — a mathematical formula — is compared to a database of known faces. And consider this: at least 117 million Americans have images of their faces in one or more police databases. According to a May 2018 report, the FBI has access to 412 million facial images for searches.
Step 4. A determination is made. Your faceprint may match that of an image in a facial recognition system database.
But Apple has taken this technology to a new level by decentralizing the data, locating the security aspects (flaws) directly on your device. According to Apple speak, it’s “Security made simple. Face ID reinvented the way we unlock, log in, and pay. Some of our most sophisticated technologies — the TrueDepth camera system, the Secure Enclave, and the Neural Engine — make it the most secure facial authentication ever in a smartphone. And even faster and easier to use,” according to the official Apple marketing data.
The Apple system uses its “TrueDepth” camera real time along with the dot projector that beams about 30K IR dots on the face to build its unique face map which is stored securely (on the phone) in the A12 Bionic chip. Once established, the camera reads the dot pattern, captures an infrared image, then sends the data to what Apple calls the “Secure Enclave” that again only lives on your phone in that (A12 processor) bionic chip. Once the match is confirmed, you are on your way out of ‘password hell’ and on to ‘face ID nirvana’.
Strategy Analytics‘ Adam Thorwart’s nine page report says that one in nine early adopters of the new technology finds face ID a compelling feature to the “no major upgrade” smartphone that replaces the popular iPhone X. Note, face ID was available on the X as well. And the news comes as no surprise to Apple’s fan base; Mac Rumors has been testing the face ID technology since Nov 2017, documenting a variety of ways users have tried to foil the face ID technology, to no avail. (So far so good, Apple… your system even works while I am wearing my way cool “Ray-Bans”)
One more thing… Beyond Apple and Android, 3rd party face ID apps are growing as well, some of the newest to arrive include
- FaceLock. Platform: Android
- LogMe. Platform: iOS | Android
- IObit Applock. Platform: Android
- Luxand FaceSDK
- FaceBot Facial Expression
- AppLock Face/Voice Recognition
- BioID Facial Recognition
- Face2Gene.
For a good overview of these options see the “Best Face Recognition Apps for iOS and Android”, 2018 edition.
Let’s face it, the internet was designed as a communication and networking interface platform, not exactly made for the airtight security transactions required for commerce and basic privacy rights that we’ve been pushing on it for the past twenty years. So, any improvement to the existing password mayhem is most welcome, and face recognition, Apple style, with its decentralized topology goes a long way to ease the pain (thank you Apple.)
For a great discussion on this topic and possible long term solutions (blockchain’s decentralized accounting with unimpeachable transactions, or events) see George Gilder’s excellent book, “Life After Google” which covers the fall of big data and the rise of the blockchain economy. – Yep, Blockchain (security blocks), Quantum computers (to resolve them) and Natural Gas (to power them) that’s our future… where freedom, joy and peace awaits (and in the quantum field of pure potential, I dare say is already here). — Stephen Sechrist
