Samsung Galaxy S10's face unlock has a major flaw

Samsung’s Galaxy S10 is getting all praises for its design and features, particularly the punch-hole display with cameras in it, and the ultrasonic fingerprint scanner that Samsung claims would securely unlock the phone. While these may be standout features for the smartphone that could be a huge selling point, a major flaw in its face-unlock feature that can let anyone hack into a user’s device.

Popular YouTuber Lewis Hilsenteger on his channel Unbox Therapy uploaded a video showcasing the S10’s face unlock flaw. Hilsenteger stated that one could easily unlock a device with a photo or a video of the registered person’s face.

To demonstrate the issue, he played his own video on another device (Pixel 3) and held it in front of the Galaxy S10’s face unlock sensor. After adjusting the secondary smartphone in front of the S10, Hilsenteger was able to bypass the lock screen and have access to the smartphone. He did the same test multiple times and was able to unlock the device on all occasions.

Hilsenteger also stated that his face in the older video had shadow line due to the cap he was wearing. He further backed his points with the fact that the Pixel 3’s display had many fingerprints on it and the S10 should not have detected the unclear face.  A software update might fix this vulnerability, but he advised that S10 owners should use the more secure in-display ultrasonic fingerprint scanner to unlock their device. The flagship, by default, enables facial recognition for unlocking the device, compromising on security for added convenience.

The company issued a statement saying, "Face recognition is a convenient action to unlock your phone. For cases requiring strong security, Samsung recommends using the new in-display Ultrasonic Fingerprint Scanner that unlocks only with your physical fingerprint. The Ultrasonic Fingerprint Scanner has been certified by FIDO Alliance with the world’s first Biometric Component Certification that recognizes its vault-like security and industry best-practice for biometric-enabled devices".

"Also, a fix to prevent this is to toggle off 'Faster Recognition' in the settings for more secure face unlocking," it added.

Meanwhile, The video has got nearly 1.9 million views on YouTube and other YouTubers backed the claim by performing similar tests on the S10's face unlock feature. This is not the first instance wherein the smartphone security feature was tricked. Last year, the OnePlus 6 too could be unlocked similarly, wherein a printed version of the user’s registered face could unlock the device.