Face recognition has been deployed in many industries, from banking to healthcare, many of which require the utmost security and privacy.
This raises the question, just how secure is facial recognition software?
What is facial recognition?
Face recognition is a strand of biometric technology that identifies or recognises a face captured within an image or video. One of the applications of face recognition is for secure access control to areas with sensitive information, such as a bank account or vault.
How does facial recognition software work?
Facial recognition is typically a three-step process that involves:
- Capturing the image of the face, either an image or a still from a video. For the most accurate results, the image would be staged by having the individual in front of a camera with specialist lighting (such as a passport photo), however advanced face recognition software is also able to identify and recognise faces even from grainy images pulled from low-resolution security cameras.
- Analysis of the image will measure and determine key attributes such as the bridge and shape of the nose, as well as the contour of the jawline among others. This information is extracted and quantified as a digital signature.
- This information is used to search a database of known faces. The face recognition software will determine whether a successful match can be made to a face already within the database. If no one specific match can be made, then the software could return a list of potential matches ranked in terms of the probability of a match.
What is the purpose of face recognition?
Face recognition solutions exist as a more secure alternative to conventional identification methods such as passwords, email verification or keys and fobs. Whilst a key can be lost, and passwords either shared or stolen, a person’s face is unique and can be used to only grant access to the specific individual.
Face recognition was a popular solution during the COVID-19 pandemic as it was able to provide a contactless solution that did not compromise security. It also has the ability to work under various circumstances such as with a face mask on. As a result of the population becoming well-tuned to using face recognition instead of physical access solutions such as keys, fobs or cards, face recognition continues to be a popular widely adopted method in many industries even after the pandemic has passed.
Advanced face recognition software providers use the latest biometric artificial intelligence to power these facial recognition solutions, helping to ensure the highest level of safety, security and reliability, often in real-time.
Factors that impact how secure face recognition software is
Given the complexity of this technology, it may not come as much of a surprise that there are numerous influencing factors that play a large role in answering how secure is face recognition software? These include:
The face recognition software itself
The software you choose to operate the facial recognition or identification will have a significant effect on how secure your facial recognition solution is. Make sure to choose a software provider that has been independently verified and has clear, concise privacy policies to ensure you know how your face data will be processed and stored.
Servers
If the face image data is to be stored, even temporarily, make sure to conduct thorough research into where the servers of the software provider are located, and how and if they intend to store the images. For larger projects or solutions requiring the highest level of security, consider a custom server.
Hardware
The hardware you use, especially the cameras used, can have a significant impact on the accuracy and therefore the security of face recognition. If a low resolution camera is used, then even the most accurate face recognition software might struggle to give the pinpoint accuracy that is required for most applications of biometric technologies. If you have made the sensible decision to choose a highly accurate, secure face recognition software provider, make sure your hardware is also up to the job.
Integrations
If you are building a solution through integrating a face recognition API, then it is important to hold all other parts of the solution to the same level of scrutiny as you would place on choosing the biometric software provider. You might choose the class leader software provider, but you could still leave yourself vulnerable to malware or fraudulent access if you integrate the face recognition solution into a disingenuous application.
Introducing the SkyBiometry Face Recognition and Detection API
SkyBiometry is a biometric technology SaaS developed by Neurotechnology, a trusted provider of high-precision biometric identification, object recognition and computer vision technologies for more than 30 years. The SkyBiometry API is already being used to power numerous commercial facial recognition projects worldwide.
The SkyBiometry face recognition software is available as an API, allowing developers to build commercial facial recognition solutions using a highly accurate, trusted biometric provider. This helps customers to accelerate product development whilst also delivering the highest quality facial recognition solution to their end customers.
Advanced security features of the SkyBiometry API
The core principle of SkyBiometry is the ability to distinguish an individual’s facial features, such as the distance and spacing between the eyes and the contour of the chin, ears and lips. These advanced facial recognition features help to maximize the security of the software, by minimizing the likelihood of spoofing or inaccurate results.
The accuracy of some facial recognition solutions can be diminished by the existence of external factors such as the person wearing glasses, or multiple faces appearing within the same image. SkyBiometry does not suffer from this problem, as it has been developed to be able to determine:
- Glasses
- Facial expression
- Makeup
- Hair and facial hair
- Face posture
Get started with SkyBiometry
You can easily and quickly integrate SkyBiometry into your project in four easy steps, these being:
- Create your account
- Get the API Keys
- Download the SDKs
- Manage your application
SkyBiometry is available as a free API, with up to 5000 calls per month. Should you require a more scalable solution with extra advanced features such as included support, a range of premium subscriptions are available to suit all needs and budgets.
Don’t forget to check out our online demos for face detection and face grouping as well!
