You know that amazing new Samsung Galaxy S5 you just got? The phone that lets you act superior to all those Luddites still using an iPhone? The one that is at the forefront of smartphone design? Well I have some bad news; the fingerprint scanner has been hacked already.
It only took a few days, but the researchers used a trick employed by a hacking group who bypassed the iPhone's fingerprint scanner last year, and posted a video on YouTube showing them making the breach. They hack involves a photo of a fingerprint and glue, and although they don't say it outright, it's actually very similar to the method for finding latent fingerprints on compromised or porous materials in criminal investigations. Additionally, contrary to what they imply, making the false fingerprint is non-trivial and not something the average low-level criminal would be doing. At least not yet.
By doing this, they were able to gain access not just to the phone, but to the apps included such as PayPal and make purchases and money transfers. The very dryly narrated (VERY dryly narrated) video explaining their process is below. Unfortunately, it really doesn't tell you anything but it's all they gave us.
Wow, I'm shocked! It is amazing how fast criminals find a way to break into other people's personal information and property. If they only used the same efforts in a positive way, imagine what a better place the world would be. Do you think the iPhone or the Samsung Galaxy is a better smartphone? Which one is more secure?
ReplyDeleteIt's a personal preference, neither is better or more secure than the other. As the post states, the iPhone fingerprint scanner was hacked by the same people in the same way last year. Again, though, it's a very complex process to create the fake fingerprint, so as an individual user I wouldn't be overly concerned.
DeleteI agree with what everyone's replies are stating, I believe many of these companies are to concerned with the new features, and how they can get them out to the consumer, that security is not their main concern. I think they should start thinking security first, then what new features to add to a new phone.
DeleteMya Taylor
All this new technology are just the same and there's no such thing as a complete protection. One way or another, somebody will find a way to hack something. I don't even use a password or any security on my phone just because I think it's pointless.
ReplyDeleteIt's a bad idea to not have any password protection on your phone, laptop, or whatever. It's by no means useless, especially if you have sensitive data or the capability of logging into a bank app, or payment app, or something similar. Most thieves won't be able to bypass it, and the process of doing so is non-trivial. I would advise everyone to password-protect not just their phone but tablet, laptop, and whatever else you have,
DeleteOnly a few days of having the phone released and it’s already been hacked! It’s unbelievable how fast attackers are getting. The feature of not having to put your password in for apps immediately sounded dangerous. As convenient as it might have been to not have enter in a password for every app, it’s probably in their best interest to because of the all the attacks going on. I guess I never really understood why someone would want to use their fingerprint to open their phone. Did no one ever think that a hacker would do this? My boyfriend has the iPhone 5S, he used the fingerprint for a while and now he’s back to just entering in a password. I prefer that method as well.
ReplyDeleteI never liked this feature, it is not something that would make me like more a specific device just for having this. As sad as it is there is always someone out there waiting for one of us to make a mistake and take advantage of our hard work. I would have imagined that such a big company would've come up with a better fingerprint system, I think many of their customers are not pleased by the fact that they didn't really improve that much and made the same mistake as apple at the time.
ReplyDeleteIt is a very complex way of trying to get into someone’s phone. Cell phones have becomes people’s lives and a lot of people thought that a finger print scanner could never be hacked. I would have thought that after what happened to the iPhone getting hacked Samsung would have tried to find a way to stop that type of hack before releasing the phone. I think it would have been great if they learned a way to protect against that because of iPhone and it would have made their phone just that much better.
ReplyDelete-Stephanie Theobald
I personally wouldn't use the fingerprint to be able to unlock my cell phone. It is really crazy that people go through this intensive research to figure out how to hack into someones phone. Mostly everyone considers their phone a huge part of their life and they have a lot invested in it which is probably why people try so hard to hack into others.
ReplyDelete-Kristen Lalli
Its so disgusting how people are constantly hacking into other people's private accounts. Maybe all that hard work they are putting into ruining someone's life should be put into actual hard work with finding a job.
ReplyDeleteThis is a new form of security for the galaxy thus honestly it does not surprise me that someone was able to hack into it so fast. As the programmers keep updating the software and upgrading the recognition of the fingerprint with higher detail. But lets just be realistic there will always be a way to hack into anything, criminals will always find a way
ReplyDeleteI actually wouldn't trust using the fingerprint feature or the other features the Samsung Galaxy S4 has in unlocking my phone, or even using it as a way to take care of payment on apps like PayPal. Obviously you can't trust the feature so why would anyone still use it? Oh yeah, so they can show off in front of people and say look what my phone can do that yours can't.
ReplyDelete-Shane Booth
To be honest this is a bit much for a phone a fingerprint scanner. I feel that having a pin, password, pattern or face regconition option avaialble on your phone is security enough. First off I do not process transactions via paypal or any other site that requires for me to make a payment via my phone. It just doesnt seem very secure and judging by this finger print scanner it is not safe. It is crazy the lengths someone will go to obtain someones information or personal accounts. But as you stated a hacker would have to go through a lot of trouble to bypass the finger scanner. Good to know that this feature can be bypassed, I just recently got a new phone and the Galaxy S5 was an option.
ReplyDeleteI find this hilarious because I was just talking to my friend about if fingerprint unlocked was worth it for the iPhone 5s. Amazing that it has already been done for the Galaxy phone. Hacker never sleep, and they are always finding a way to get into people person information. This is taking one step higher with hacking a finger reading device .
ReplyDeleteMaybe just a really good pass-code and a kill switch on the phone might work better.
ReplyDeleteWell in a way I am not surprised. These types of applications are made in tech labs and have been reviewed and tested many times. It is a bit disturbing you can YouTube a video on how to hack into these phones. I just hope that in the future manufactures can learn from their mistakes and make a better more secure finger scanning app.
ReplyDeleteI'm also not surprised that hackers are at it again. It seems that they wait for something new to come out so they can practice trying to break it. I think that many companies want their product out first and think about better security later. I do pass protect everything so I can have some peace of mind that I'm reasonably secure.
ReplyDeleteI can believe it. I was thinking about this a while ago. I was wondering how long it would take for someone to hack it.
ReplyDeleteThey need to hire hackers to help them with product development. I personally try not to buy anything as soon as it comes out. I like to wait and give them a chance to work through all of the issues that they learn about as soon as it hits the market. I also am way more cautious about what's on my phone more so than my computer.
ReplyDelete