Dutch consumer organisation Consumentenbond found that 38% of the smartphones it tested could be unlocked using just a photo of the owner's face. — dpa
People who unlock their smartphones using facial recognition may want to reconsider their security decisions, depending on what device they own, after a test found that this feature was fairly easy to hack.
If you forget your PIN, you always have your face. For that reason, many people unlock their smartphone using facial recognition.
But how safe is it?
Dutch consumer organisation Consumentenbond found that of 110 smartphones tested, 42 of them, or 38%, could be unlocked using just a photo of the owner's face.
Phones made by Sony performed particularly poorly in the test. Other manufacturers whose phones failed included Nokia, Lenovo Motorola, Asus, Blackberry and Huawei.
LG devices that hadn't been set to stricter security also failed. All the iPhones tested passed.
For owners of the devices that failed, Consumentenbond recommends setting a lock code or some other form of biometric security (or a combination of both) instead of relying on facial recognition. – dpa
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