Camera Hijack Attack on Facial Recognition System

Summary

This type of camera hijack attack can evade the traditional live facial recognition authentication model and enable access to privileged systems and victim impersonation. Two individuals in China used this attack to gain access to the local government's tax system. They created a fake shell company and sent invoices via tax system to supposed clients. The individuals started this scheme in 2018 and were able to fraudulently collect $77 million. Target: Shanghai government tax office's facial recognition service Actor: Two individuals Reporter: Ant Group AISEC Team Procedure: 1. The attackers collected user identity information and high-definition face photos from an online black market. 2. The attackers used the victim identity information to register new accounts in the tax system. 3. The attackers bought customized low-end mobile phones. 4. The attackers obtained customized Android ROMs and a virtual camera application. 5. The attackers obtained software that turns static photos into videos, adding realistic effects such as blinking eyes. 6. The attackers used the virtual camera app to present the generated video to the ML-based facial recognition service used for user verification. 7. The attackers successfully evaded the face recognition system. This allowed the attackers to impersonate the victim and verify their identity in the tax system. 8. The attackers used their privileged access to the tax system to send invoices to supposed clients and further their fraud scheme.

Deployers

• Shanghai government tax office's facial recognition service

Tags

• MITRE ATLAS
• AML.CS0004