Windows Hello Face Unlock No Longer Works in the Dark and Microsoft Says It's Not a Bug (windowscentral.com) 18
Microsoft has disabled Windows Hello's ability to authenticate users in low-light environments through a recent security update that now requires both infrared sensors and color cameras to verify faces. The change forces the system to see a visible face through the webcam before completing authentication with IR sensors.
Windows Hello earlier relied solely on infrared sensors to create 3D facial scans, allowing the feature to work in complete darkness similar to iPhone's Face ID. Microsoft pushed the dual-camera requirement to address a spoofing vulnerability in the biometric system.
Windows Hello earlier relied solely on infrared sensors to create 3D facial scans, allowing the feature to work in complete darkness similar to iPhone's Face ID. Microsoft pushed the dual-camera requirement to address a spoofing vulnerability in the biometric system.
Never use biotmetrics (Score:5, Insightful)
Biometrics can be forced by police. Passwords cannot. The only time biometrics should ever be used is somewhat as a 2nd factor but better as a 3rd factor for systems that support it. Each one protects against different vectors of abuse. Passwords are known but can be shared. Biometrics can be forced but cannot easily be shared. Physical tokens can be forced or stolen. Many other so called 2nd and 3rd factor authentication mechanisms are utilized because they allow companies to uniquely identify you as a person, so those should be avoided. Phone based codes for instance allows them to tie what is usually just a random username or account to a real physical human identity. Zero trust should always be the goal.
Password, biometrics, and tokens together equal someone that knows something,has something, and that that actual person is present but it does so in a way that does not necessarily have to tie a real human identity to that account. Even the biometrics without significant additional information cannot be tied to a real humans name, address, phone number etc. But I also believe that only password should be a requirement. The rest should always be up to the user. There are legitimate use cases where people NEED to allow other family members access to their accounts. That is 100% the decision of the owner of the account, not the company providing the account.
Re:Never use biotmetrics (Score:4, Informative)
Clarification, on what I said above. The title says never use biometrics. That was meant to say never use biometrics ALONE.
Re: (Score:3)
Adding: Passwords also work in the dark.
Re:Never use biotmetrics (Score:5, Funny)
Adding: Passwords also work in the dark.
I can't touch type you insensitive clod.
Re: (Score:2)
Adding: Passwords also work in the dark.
I can't touch type you insensitive clod.
That seems like a *you* problem, not the password's. :-)
Re:Never use biotmetrics (Score:4, Interesting)
Biometrics can be forced by police.
So can passkeys, which makes them harmful.
Re: (Score:2)
security key?
Re: Its an "anti-criminal use of AI" change (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
Fraudsters are using AI to create face masks of people to get by these things
How would AI generated masks fool 3D facial scans? That require a 3D printed mask not a simple phone screen.
How is another 2D image going to help? (Score:2)
If the near IR camera could be spoofed, then I doubt the visual spectrum one will help much. You can just buy a set of CMY-IR inkjet inks used for making watermarked images. A high refresh rate camera could help by measuring heartbeat from the image, but there is no particular requirement for webcams.
Guess Apple bought all the patents for 3D camera authentication?
Re: (Score:3)
Guess Apple bought all the patents for 3D camera authentication?
Yes Apple bought PrimeSense [wikipedia.org] who probably had multiple patents on 3D sensing. Like many companies that are purchased for their technology and patents rather than their products, PrimeSense no longer licenses their technology to anyone anymore. If PrimeSense sounds familiar, it was the technology behind the Kinect. This was probably the main reason the 2nd generation Kinect was not that much more advanced than the first generation as it was still on older licensed PrimeSense technology. Apple took PrimeSense
Re: (Score:2)
Just the same as when they bought the best provider of fingerprint sensors on the market (Authentec), rebranded it "TouchID" and stopped selling their products to anyone not named "Apple."
IR typically has lower resolution. (Score:2)
However given contemporaneous visible, the IR can ensure a template created from the visible has appropriate heat patterns match a face. Think of it as a check against looking the visible being an image of a photo.
Re: (Score:2)
This is near IR, not thermal. It's only really different from a normal camera in that it blocks visible light instead of IR, so they can shine a LED at our face without it being annoying.
Better to put these pants back on.... (Score:1)
Better to put these pants back on before unlocking that Windows PC in the morning or for a PH session... lmao !
Next up (Score:3)
M$ issues specifications for webcams on laptops to have a built in flash.
IR Data doesn't link to a face directly. (Score:2)
What I think it is that if you have the IR data that doesn't automatically link you to a face and isn't useful for matching photographs. If you were going to build database that linked a persons biometric data together, having only their IR won't let you match it to photos for your database.
It's likely not about unlocking your device. It's more likely it's about having your color image available so they can cross reference it and link it to their database, which will be updated in some terms of use later. F