Google Lets Users Sign In With Video Selfies

Google is letting users sign into their accounts by taking videos of themselves.

“Selfie video is a new way to get into your account, giving you more options if you’re ever locked out or don’t have access to your usual phone or computer,” the tech giant wrote in a Thursday (July 23) blog post.

To set up a video, users look into their devices camera and make a few “short, guided head movements” to capture multiple angles, the blog post said. If users have trouble logging in later on, they can take another selfie to access their account. The new features compares the new video to the original one to confirm the user’s identity.

The company said the new feature was designed with privacy in mind. When users sign in with their selfie, Google employs multiple security levels to prevent impersonation attempts with deepfake photos and videos.

In addition to its standard security measures against suspicious sign-ins, Google says it matches users’ videos against their saved selfie and requires them to perform “simple movements” to verify the video is live.

“Your selfie video is yours and you’re in control. It is recorded and securely stored with your consent, and you can delete it at any time in your Google Account,” the blog post added. “It’s used only for helping you sign in, unless you opt to share it for additional purposes. Your selfie video is encrypted at rest, meaning it’s securely stored even when it’s not being used.”

This new log-in measure comes at a time when artificial intelligence has made impersonation easier than ever, as PYMNTS wrote recently. In some cases, this means allowing scammers to create fake employees.

“Synthetic insiders use stolen identities, deepfake technology and remotely controlled devices to get hired, pass background checks and log in through approved accounts: access that looks legitimate because it is legitimate,” that report said. “The person operating it is not who the company believes it hired.”

In related news, PYMNTS explored the identity/authentication landscape in an interview in May with Henry Patishman, executive vice president, identity verification solutions at Regula.

“Every identity and authentication system in financial services was built on a foundational assumption: One human initiates an action, one system verifies that person, and it happens at one specific moment in time,” he said, adding that while that paradigm has held for decades, “unfortunately, today, it no longer does.”