2023-06-26 13:00:00
Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola and other manufacturers had some of their entry-level and intermediate cell phones analyzed by a study promoted by Consumer Bold that evaluated the safety of facial biometrics. The research is quite consistent, indicating that the cheapest devices are the ones with the most gaps.
Among the 60 cell phones analyzed by the researchers, 26 of them were considered insecure, especially some models from Xiaomi and its subsidiaries lead in terms of insecurity. The Chinese occupies almost 60% of the list with 14 models listed, including some from the Xiaomi 13 family. Motorola appears in second position with 4 phones, followed by Nokia in third place with three devices.
According to the report, smartphones classified as unsafe do not take enough steps to prevent third parties from unlocking the device using a printed photo of the device owner. This breach makes both the cell phone and applications that use facial unlocking susceptible to intrusions and data theft.
The analysis done by Consumer Bold did not identify vulnerabilities in iPhones, which passed all tests preventing the system from being unlocked through methods such as the one mentioned above. In the case of Apple cell phones, it is worth remembering the presence of Face ID infrared sensors that significantly raise the level of security.
In the case of most affordable cell phones in the Android ecosystem, the evaluation of facial data is not done by a specific sensor, but by the front camera and an artificial intelligence feature in the software. In this case, it is possible that a realistic photo or a well-made montage can bypass the security mechanisms, something that rarely happens with a dedicated sensor.
Although Xiaomi leads in terms of unsafe devices (according to the report in question), it is interesting to mention that the Chinese manufacturer innovated in 2018 by launching the Xiaomi Mi 8 — the “Mi” nomenclature was abandoned by the company — with a rectangular notch housing the selfie camera and an infrared sensor for face depth mapping.
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(updated on Jun 26, 2023 at 1:40 pm)
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