Despite detailed demonstrations that the security of its Veriface face recognition technology can be manipulated to gain unlawful access, Lenovo is keeping current notebook models equipped with it.
In an e-mail interview with ZDNet Asia, a Singapore-based Lenovo representative said the company has "no plans to pull affected models." However, the PC maker does plan to continue to upgrade the face recognition technology.
The technology's vulnerability was demonstrated in December by the Bach Khoa Internetwork Security (BKIS) center in Hanoi, Vietnam.
At the Black Hat security conference last month, researchers Nguyen Minh Duc and Bui Quang Minh presented a paper (PDF) that detailed Veriface's face authentication and the bypass.
According to the paper, tests were performed on Asus, Lenovo, and Toshiba laptops fitted with 1.3-megapixel cameras. The bypass model illustrated that a person was able to log in to the Windows Vista machines using photos or videos to initiate a face recognition process.
"All the applications tested are of their latest versions and are set to Highest Security Level," the researchers wrote in the paper. The technologies were identified as Asus SmartLogon V1.0.0005, Lenovo Veriface III, and Toshiba Face Recognition 2.0.2.32.
Nguyen and Bui added: "Veriface is in fact the least secure of the (three applications) as we can log into the account using a plain image of the owner without much effort."
Lenovo, its representative noted, offers face recognition technology "as an alternative security option for consumers who would like the convenience of not having to remember yet another password." Within the region, Veriface technology is available in Lenovo's IdeaPad notebooks and Netbooks as well as its IdeaCenter desktops.
He added: "Like all technologies, early adoption reveals initial issues that are improved over time and Veriface, which is only used in our consumer range of notebooks, continues to be upgraded. Our advice to concerned consumers is to take basic safety measures to limit their vulnerabilities--store your notebook securely."
Asus and Toshiba did not respond to similar queries from ZDNet Asia.
Asus, Lenovo and Toshiba are said to be the only three vendors offering face recognition technology in the region. Hewlett-Packard announced last year that HP Labs had developed facial recognition technology in collaboration with Tsinghua University in Beijing. However, a Singapore-based representative confirmed that there are no HP products with face recognition technology in the region.
Vivian Yeo of ZDNet Asia reported from Singapore.
This is me being enrolled by the Y430's Lenovo Veriface III authentication software to be a legitimate user of the computer.
(Credit: Dong Ngo/CBS Interactive)Updated at 1:14 p.m. PST Friday, December 5 with comment from Lenovo.
Editor's note: CNET editor and Crave contributor Dong Ngo is spending the month of December in his homeland of Vietnam and plans to file occasional dispatches chronicling his impressions of how technology has permeated the culture there. Click here for more of Dong's stories from abroad.
HANOI, Vietnam--Regardless of what some people seem to think, we Asians do not all look the same. But according to the current face recognition algorithm used in laptops, our faces are all about as flat as a piece of paper.
That's according to BKIS, the Vietnamese Internetwork Security Center that makes the antivirus software I mentioned in a blog post Monday. At a press conference here Tuesday, the company demonstrated vulnerabilities in laptops' face recognition-based authentication mechanisms that let anyone log in to a computer easily with a "special" photo of the legit owner, even at the highest authentication level.
Using your face as the password to log in to a computer--an alternative to the fingerprint method or the traditional username and password--marks a new trend found in laptops from Lenovo, Asus, and Toshiba. As far as I know, only these three vendors currently offer this technology in their laptops. These computers come with a built-in Webcam that's used to capture and analyze faces.
I've been impressed by this new way to log in and have found it to be so much more convenient than the fingerprint reader of my Dell XPS 1330. The finger scanner is a pain when my finger is wet or dirty. Unfortunately, on Tuesday I discovered that this new and exciting technology may not be such an effective security measure.
I participated in a demonstration on a Lenovo Y430, running Windows Vista, and here's how it panned out:
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