Hackers Trick Face ID with 3-D Printed Mask

Hackers Trick Face ID with 3-D Printed Mask

Days after the iPhone X’s official release, hackers in Vietnam have successfully tricked Face ID and unlocked the smartphone with a 3-D-printed mask.

  • By Jessica Davis
  • Nov 15, 2017

Days after the iPhone X’s official release, hackers in Vietnam have successfully tricked Face ID and unlocked the smartphone with a 3-D-printed mask.

Vietnamese security firm Bkav Corporation, which previously showed the ability to bypass facial recognition on laptops in 2008, has posted a video showing the new Apple smartphone unlocking when presented with a 3D mask of a face.

At the iPhone X launch event, Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller said that Apple had “worked with professional mask makers and makeup artists in Hollywood to protect against these attempts to beat Face ID.” Apple used these masks to “train the neural network” to distinguish masks from real faces and “protect against them in Face ID,” Schiller said.

According to a Q&A on its site, Bkav started working on their mask after receiving the iPhone X on launch day, Nov. 5. “We used a popular 3D printer. Nose was made by a handmade artist. We use 2D printing for other parts (similar to how we tricked Face Recognition 9 years ago). The skin was also hand-made to trick Apple's AI,” Bkav said. The mask cost about $150 to make.

Bkav said its hack was an “experiment” and a “Proof of Concept, the purpose of which is to prove a principle.” It added that potential targets would not be regular iPhone X users, but “billionaires, leaders of major corporations, nation leaders”.

Some security experts are not sure this poses a risk to iPhone X users at all. “In order to compromise Face ID authentication, the attacker would have to have a detailed map of the face of the user, create a mask that would map the exact details of the victim’s face, unlock the phone within five attempts and do all of this within 48 hours,” said Paul Norris, senior systems engineer – EMEA at Tripwire. “This seems like an unlikely sequence of events.”

Bkav said that when it comes to biometric security, a fingerprint scanner is the most secure method.

Watch Bkav’s video on the Face ID hack below:

 

About the Author

Jessica Davis is the Associate Content Editor for 1105 Media.

Featured

  • Report: 47 Percent of Security Service Providers Are Not Yet Using AI or Automation Tools

    Trackforce, a provider of security workforce management platforms, today announced the launch of its 2025 Physical Security Operations Benchmark Report, an industry-first study that benchmarks both private security service providers and corporate security teams side by side. Based on a survey of over 300 security professionals across the globe, the report provides a comprehensive look at the state of physical security operations. Read Now

    • Guard Services

  • Identity Governance at the Crossroads of Complexity and Scale

    Modern enterprises are grappling with an increasing number of identities, both human and machine, across an ever-growing number of systems. They must also deal with increased operational demands, including faster onboarding, more scalable models, and tighter security enforcement. Navigating these ever-growing challenges with speed and accuracy requires a new approach to identity governance that is built for the future enterprise. Read Now

  • Eagle Eye Networks Launches AI Camera Gun Detection

    Eagle Eye Networks, a provider of cloud video surveillance, recently introduced Eagle Eye Gun Detection, a new layer of protection for schools and businesses that works with existing security cameras and infrastructure. Eagle Eye Networks is the first to build gun detection into its platform. Read Now

  • Report: AI is Supercharging Old-School Cybercriminal Tactics

    AI isn’t just transforming how we work. It’s reshaping how cybercriminals attack, with threat actors exploiting AI to mass produce malicious code loaders, steal browser credentials and accelerate cloud attacks, according to a new report from Elastic. Read Now

  • Pragmatism, Productivity, and the Push for Accountability in 2025-2026

    Every year, the security industry debates whether artificial intelligence is a disruption, an enabler, or a distraction. By 2025, that conversation matured, where AI became a working dimension in physical identity and access management (PIAM) programs. Observations from 2025 highlight this turning point in AI’s role in access control and define how security leaders are being distinguished based on how they apply it. Read Now

Most   Popular

New Products

  • A8V MIND

    A8V MIND

    Hexagon’s Geosystems presents a portable version of its Accur8vision detection system. A rugged all-in-one solution, the A8V MIND (Mobile Intrusion Detection) is designed to provide flexible protection of critical outdoor infrastructure and objects. Hexagon’s Accur8vision is a volumetric detection system that employs LiDAR technology to safeguard entire areas. Whenever it detects movement in a specified zone, it automatically differentiates a threat from a nonthreat, and immediately notifies security staff if necessary. Person detection is carried out within a radius of 80 meters from this device. Connected remotely via a portable computer device, it enables remote surveillance and does not depend on security staff patrolling the area.

  • EasyGate SPT and SPD

    EasyGate SPT SPD

    Security solutions do not have to be ordinary, let alone unattractive. Having renewed their best-selling speed gates, Cominfo has once again demonstrated their Art of Security philosophy in practice — and confirmed their position as an industry-leading manufacturers of premium speed gates and turnstiles.

  • Connect ONE’s powerful cloud-hosted management platform provides the means to tailor lockdowns and emergency mass notifications throughout a facility – while simultaneously alerting occupants to hazards or next steps, like evacuation.

    Connect ONE®

    Connect ONE’s powerful cloud-hosted management platform provides the means to tailor lockdowns and emergency mass notifications throughout a facility – while simultaneously alerting occupants to hazards or next steps, like evacuation.