Amazon patent to make face recognition more secure

Facial recognition is becoming more acceptable as a form of biometric verification, but concerns over how secure facial recognition really is has plagued the method from the beginning. Facial recognition software has routinely been tricked by static images of faces. Amazon wants to address this issue by requesting users perform a certain action, which software would then verify along with facial recognition to confirm a person's identity. This is the crux of a new Amazon patent that recently became public.

The patent discusses using this verification method before authorizing a "transaction," suggesting Amazon may intend this to be used for mobile payments or payments on the company’s websites. Realistically, this could be used in a variety of circumstances, like unlocking the door of a smart home. It seems unlikely that Amazon is the only one working on this kind of authentication, but it's also not the only effective way of using facial recognition. Some security systems combine multiple sources of biometric information, like facial recognition and a fingerprint scan.

These kinds of combination biometric security systems are already being offered by China manufacturers. The designs usually include a camera, fingerprint scanner and display. Identifying actions could be incorporated in future security systems, but it might require more complicated software. This likely wouldn't be a big issue in a smart home in which security systems are talking with other networked devices in the home or in the cloud.