Face Recognition for Laptop Security?

By Greg McNevin

May 1, 2008: Toshiba has added an interesting new security feature to its line of Satellite notebooks – face recognition software.

Toshiba describes the new feature as a “fun and convenient way to log in to a personal computer”, and makes use of the Satellite’s built-in Webcam to grant or deny access by quickly referencing a database of stored digital images of a registered user’s face.

In a similar fashion to storing fingerprints, a database is created during a short setup process where a user is prompted to move their head from side-to-side and up-and-down until their face has been adequately profiled with a series of still images.

Unlike fingerprints (unless one works with knives on a daily basis), as facial features can change the software also enables periodic updates to the image database to ensure that the latest user photos are available if a user, say, grows a moustache or shaves a beard.

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