Liveness check helps improve Face Unlock in Jelly Bean

Last year, when Google announced Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, one of the highlights of the operating system update was that one could unlock their handsets with their face using a face recognition mechanism called Face Unlock. This was a neat concept as opposed to punching in a code or using a pattern to unlock your device. However, this system did come with its security vulnerabilities as a person could unlock a handset with a photograph. A report by Android Central states that with Jelly Bean, Google aims to improve this unlock feature by adding a new option called Liveness check.As per the report, a member of the Android Central forums, Jay2Kings, has discovered that within the security settings menu, a new feature of Jelly Bean, called Liveness check, aims to improve the Face Unlock feature. The author of the report, Richard Devine, states, “So, this is supposed to get round the potential picture duping issue by making it so Face Unlock will check for the person in front of it blinking. In other words, making sure you're alive. While it's good to see solutions for potential security risks, Jays2Kings also points out that it doesn't really pick up normal blinking too well. Seems that it works best when you have your eyes open really wide, and all it seems to do is to further slow down the process of unlocking your phone with Face Unlock.”Click here for full story