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Fingerprint Smudges Can Unlock Certain Phones

A British woman discovered recently that her husband was able to unlock her phone using the fingerprint reader.

Last year, we brought you a story about how easy it is to fool your phone’s facial recognition security tech, by simply scanning and photographing your head and then 3D printing it. Not a big deal.

Well, now there’s an even easier way than that to crack a phone, and Samsung is so concerned it’s deploying a software patch to fix it – ASAP.

Meanwhile, if you own a Galaxy S10 or Note10 – beware. Your screen protector might be unwittingly holding onto your prints, allowing other users with, decidedly, NOT your fingerprints, to use the reader to unlock your device.

According to CNN Business, a British woman discovered recently that her husband was able to unlock her phone using the fingerprint reader and they later discovered that the cheap case she was using was the problem. The aftermarket product features a screen protector and the residue left from her prints was being retained, thus fooling the high-tech reader when her husband would press down where she had previously used the device.

Samsung is asking users to refrain from using these screen protectors until it’s able to remedy the situation. It seems the problem with these specific models is that they use “ultrasonic fingerprint scanners,” which reportedly use soundwaves to create a 3D map of the user’s print. Certain phone cases, says Samsung, are causing these systems to malfunction. But who would have guessed it could all have been caused by a smudge?

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