Security News > 2020 > July > Facial-Recognition Flop: Face Masks Thwart Virus, Stump Security Systems
Face masks not only have shown in research to slow the spread of COVID-19, they also deter facial-recognition technology from correctly identifying people, according to a new study.
New research from the National Institute of Standards and Technology found that even the best of 89 commercial facial recognition algorithms tested experienced error rates between 5 percent and 50 percent when matching people in digitally applied face masks with photos of the same person without a mask.
They digitally applied masks using nine mask variants in black or light blue to mimic the surgical-style masks most people wear in public.
Round masks produced lower error rates, while black masks gave the algorithms more difficulty in recognizing faces than blue ones, researchers said.
"None of these algorithms were designed to handle face masks, and the masks we used are digital creations, not the real thing."