Samsung Galaxy S5 has been in the news for numerous innovative applications. They have come up with things that people never knew existed. One of the crucial aspects of the smart phone’s functionality is its fingerprint scanner. It is said to enhance the security of the phone and attach an element of ease to the process.
However, it has recently been found that the phone’s fingerprint scanner is susceptible to spoofing hack. The hack was demonstrated by researchers from Security Based Labs, a company based in Germany. Some time back, a similar research was performed by another agency for iPhone 5S. The failure of both these coveted models of smart phones in upholding security comes across as scary to several people, who own or aspire to own these phones.
WHAT THE RESEARCHERS SAID?
The researchers, who performed the hack, said that they would have preferred Samsung Galaxy S5’s fingerprint scanner to be more challenging for people. The phone’s system needs to employ stricter anti-spoofing measures. An example of the same could be presenting a password challenge if a number of swipe attempts have been unsuccessful. This is because such bypassing, if gone unrestricted, might cause various risks to the actual phone users like having their PayPal account hacked.
HOW WAS THE HACK PERFORMED?
The researchers took a photo of an unprocessed latent pride smudge on the screen of the smart phone with a camera-phone. The exploit was carried out by using a ‘wood glue spoof’, which was made from an etched PCB mould.
Samsung Galaxy S5 Finger Scanner also susceptible to ordinary spoofs:
