How VK Users Can Protect Themselves from FindFace

Have you heard about the service that can find your VKontakte (VK) profile just from a photo? FindFace has been around since February, but it only recently gained widespread attention thanks to the creativity of St. Petersburg photographer Egor Tsvetkov.

Link to the service: findface.ru

The Kaspersky Daily editorial team decided to run their own experiment with FindFace. We wanted to see if it’s possible to instantly uncover the identity of a random person on the street using just a regular smartphone. The results were concerning—it is possible (though not always). We also discovered some other interesting things. For example, one of our colleagues accidentally found out that his identity had been stolen. But let’s go through everything step by step.

How to Use FindFace (and Why)

FindFace is a service that searches for VK profiles using a photo. It has a web version and mobile apps for Android and iOS. The mobile apps have fewer features and can be a bit glitchy, but you don’t need to copy photos anywhere: just take a picture, and it’s recognized instantly.

The mobile app only shows photos from the found person’s VK profile. If the user hasn’t set up privacy settings, you might discover a lot of interesting things—Egor Tsvetkov’s projects are a great example of this.

The web service is more convenient—it lets you go straight to the person’s VK profile with all their details. The first 30 searches are free; after that, FindFace charges a fee.

When photos are taken in ideal conditions (when the person is posing for you), recognition is almost flawless. Out of ten test “victims” in our office, nine were found on the first try.

If you secretly take photos of strangers on your phone (on the street or in the subway) without them noticing, the accuracy drops by two or three times. For photos taken from a distance, the app often responds with “No people detected.” However, cropping or using digital zoom usually solves this problem.

In daylight, it’s quite possible to snap a photo of a fast-walking person with an average smartphone. In the subway, you’ll need a stationary subject or a good camera.

Conclusions and Tips

Chances are, you don’t want just anyone to be able to find your social media profile. So what can you do?

1. The search only works with VK profile photos—this includes your current avatar and all previous ones. VK stores these images in the “Photos from the page” album. Importantly, you can’t set privacy settings for this album: these photos are visible to all VK users. You can only delete avatars, and the fewer you have, the less accurate the recognition becomes.

   Tip: Delete old profile photos and leave just one image in the album, preferably one where your face isn’t clearly visible. This way, you’ll be less worried about suspicious people with cameras.

2. Unusual photos—taken from the side, at an odd angle, or with a hood—often make recognition harder. Making funny faces can also help to some extent. Glasses with thick frames work well. However, if your profile contains photos of you in such glasses or making faces, you can probably still be found.
3. Many people are surprised by how many of their photos are publicly accessible. They thought they knew all about privacy settings and had set them up, but still—check again. Simply checking boxes in “My Settings — Privacy” isn’t enough: be sure to review the viewing permissions for your photo albums.

   Tip: Ask someone who isn’t your VK friend to log into your account and see what they can view.

4. FindFace is implemented fairly responsibly: it doesn’t seem to show any information hidden by VK’s privacy settings, and apparently doesn’t cache data. At least in our tests, after deleting all profile photos, the service could no longer find the person on a repeat search. However, there’s no guarantee that a less scrupulous recognition service won’t appear in the future, possibly connecting to platforms other than VK. So, it’s a good idea to check the privacy settings of your other social networks as well—and it’s best to do it now.

Stay vigilant and regularly review your privacy settings to protect your personal information online.