OnePlus 6 facial recognition too weak, fooled by printed photo

The facial recognition security feature of the OnePlus 6 can be unlocked with a photo. Ethical hacker Rik van Duijn today tweeted a video demonstrating how the OnePlus 6 face unlock feature is fooled by a printed photo.

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In another tweet, van Duijn stresses that the phone was trained to unlock the phone when it detected his face, it was not trained on an image of his face. Oneplus, the Chinese manufacturer of the phone, has been informed about the issue. The company has stated to investigate the issue and to also investigate whether an update to the facial recognition feature, that could solve the issue, is possible.

Van Duijn fooled the face recognition of his OnePlus 6 by showing it a printed photo of his face. When the photo was shown under a specific angle, the phone unlocked.

OnePlus users can still secure their phone with other security features such as a pin code or fingerprints. OnePlus 6 owners should probably resort to each of those security mechanisms, the trick to fool the phone's face unlock feature is so simple, it can be easily copied.

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Prior to the launch of the OnePlus 6, there were rumors that the phone would get an advanced face unlock system that would bring it on par with e.g. that of the iPhone X. Apple's face unlock feature can also be tricked, it doesn't distinct between twins. Security researchers have also demonstrated a method with a 3D mask of a face that also fooled the facial recognition system.

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