Vietnamese Company Claims $150 Mask Can Hack iPhone X Face ID

Just days after the iPhone X hit stores on Nov. 3, Vietnamese cybersecurity company Bkav claims a $150 3D-printed mask bypassed the new Face ID, which is used to unlock the Apple device.

In a blog post and YouTube video (below) published on Friday, Bkav appears to show how they cracked an iPhone X’s Face ID using a mask made from 3D-printed plastic, silicone, makeup and cutouts for the eyes, nose and mouth.

The company said that their demonstration, which has yet to be verified publicly by other security researchers, according to Wired, proved that the “Apple Face ID is not an effective security measure.”

However, creating the mask did require a detailed digital scan of a face of the target iPhone’s owner, and would be “difficult for normal users” to exploit.

Bkav’s video does not go through the steps of setting up a Face ID, and viewers are already skeptical about the alleged flaw.

“The lock on the screen doesn’t open when the mask is shown. This is obviously fake…,” one netizen replied.

“I didnt see the unlock animation yet @@,” another commented.

When the iPhone X was unveiled in September, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Philip Schiller said that the company “worked with professional mask makers and makeup artists in Hollywood” to train the device’s neural network, according to Apple Insider.

Apple was proven right when The Wall Street Journal’s personal tech columnist Joanna Stern made a silicone mask that failed to trick Face ID in her review of the iPhone X.

Many iPhone X owners can sleep easy knowing it’s hard to be successfully exploited, but Bkav encourages users to update the next software patch as soon as possible.

“Country leaders, leaders of major corporations…are the ones that need to know about the issue, because their devices are worth illegal unlock attempts,” the company wrote.

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