A face identification system detects that a user is wearing a facemask, by finding an area on the face image which has no facial recognition facial features, and that area is a continuous area and includes the nose and mouth of the user, being covered by the mask. Responsive to making this detection, the system determines that the user is wearing a facemask and carries out a facemask recognition operation. The facemask recognition operation can include finding some other way to verify the user, or reducing security so that the user can be verified while still wearing the facemask.