I once transformed my face to look like Ron Swanson—for science.

I never thought disguising myself with wigs and makeup would be part of my job, but as a NIST facial recognition researcher I sometimes do just that. To make myself look like the gruff character from the show Parks and Recreation, I applied a lot of makeup, a wig, and a fake mustache.

With that look, I could no longer unlock my cellphone with my own face.

This is an example of what we facial recognition researchers call a “presentation attack.” A presentation attack is often used when someone is trying to look like someone else or to not be seen as themselves. A presentation attacker wants to fake someone else’s face or look like anyone but themselves to avoid being picked up by facial recognition technology. 

Although my Ron Swanson experiment was innocent, people thwarting facial recognition technology can have scary results.

For example, an attacker could copy a person’s identity by using that person’s photo to bypass facial recognition to gain access to the victim’s phone or bank account.

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