Even Identical Twins Can’t Foil Windows Hello Facial Recognition In Windows 10
With Windows 10 (and the right hardware), you can skip the traditional password or even a fingerprint scanner and have the OS log you in simply by scanning your face. It’s an intriguing new feature and Microsoft has been touting it as a secure, convenient way to log in. The face scanning tool is part of Windows Hello, which also features fingerprint scanning and the ordinary password login.
To see just how sensitive the software/hardware combo really is, Senior Technology Journalist Chris Griffith at The Australian tested Windows Hello’s ability to recognize identical twins. The test involved a laptop running Windows 10 and boasting an Intel RealSense camera, which is required for the Windows Hello face recognition feature.
The Australian put six pairs of twins to the test: would Windows Hello, with an account for only one twin on the computer, be able to tell them apart? Would it grant access, or would it get confused? And, most importantly, would it inadvertently log in the wrong twin?
As it turned out, Windows Hello proved to be pretty capable. The feature didn’t allow access to the wrong twin even once, though it did occasionally have trouble logging in some of the twins. In one case, Windows Hello wasn’t able to log in either twin. So, Windows Hello unfortunately puts to bed the “My evil twin logged in and did that” excuse.
Windows Hello and Passport are Microsoft’s latest attempt to address the security problems that typical password pose. Eventually, face recognition (and possibly iris recognition) could replace the standard password as the most popular security measure.
To see just how sensitive the software/hardware combo really is, Senior Technology Journalist Chris Griffith at The Australian tested Windows Hello’s ability to recognize identical twins. The test involved a laptop running Windows 10 and boasting an Intel RealSense camera, which is required for the Windows Hello face recognition feature.
The Australian put six pairs of twins to the test: would Windows Hello, with an account for only one twin on the computer, be able to tell them apart? Would it grant access, or would it get confused? And, most importantly, would it inadvertently log in the wrong twin?
As it turned out, Windows Hello proved to be pretty capable. The feature didn’t allow access to the wrong twin even once, though it did occasionally have trouble logging in some of the twins. In one case, Windows Hello wasn’t able to log in either twin. So, Windows Hello unfortunately puts to bed the “My evil twin logged in and did that” excuse.
Windows Hello and Passport are Microsoft’s latest attempt to address the security problems that typical password pose. Eventually, face recognition (and possibly iris recognition) could replace the standard password as the most popular security measure.
