Digital Image Can Dupe Android Face-based Lock

The mobile blog SoyaCincau posted a video of the Face Unlock feature tricked by someone who simply shows the Galaxy Nexus running Android 4.0 a photo of the face that have been used to set up the locking mechanism. According to the blog SoyaCincau holding a digital photo of its owner that is displayed on another phone in front of the Galaxy Nexus can unlock it.

Given the video demo, it's unclear why a Googler would have suggested recently that using a photo would not open up a device protected with Face Unlock. Last month, Koushik Dutta, a developer of the Android after-market firmware replacement CyanogenMod, tweeted: that the face recognition unlock thing is really easily hackable even with a photo. In response, Tim Bray, who is on the Android team, tweeted that there is no credit in this statement.