The 3D printed head beats smartphones facial recognition

The renowned Forbes reporter, Thomas Brewster, demonstrated not long back that the facial recognition systems of the most well-known brands of smartphones are not as impenetrable as they might claim. To prove it he used a 3D printed head modelled after him.

The development of the printing was done through the company Backface in Birmingham, the United Kingdom. Where 50 cameras were used to scan Thomas and get a 3D model with all the details of his face. In just a few days for the manufacture of the model through powder binding technology, and with £ 300 less in the pocket the reporter had a life-size replica of his head.

How does a 3D printed head fool the best operating systems?

When Thomas had his 3D printed head in hand, he decided to test some of the smartphones on the market. Which are considered to have some of the high security facial recognition system. They tested phones like the Samsung Galaxy S9, OnePlus 6, Galaxy Note 8 and LG G7 ThinQ, and the iPhone X. The phones with Android operating system were easily fooled. The iPhone was the only one that fully showed a non penetrable potential in the test.