LONDON: Fingerprint scanners are slowly becoming a very important feature of a mobile specs sheet. However, news has it that the feature aimed at adding more security may not necessarily be safe itself. Researchers Tao Wei and Yulong Zhang from security firm FireEye have disclosed four different attacks capable of extracting user fingerprints from Android smartphones, and also claim how it is more vulnerable compared to Touch ID in Apple.
Researchers outlined four attacks and the one called fingerprint sensor spying attack is capable of remotely harvesting fingerprints in a large scale, reports ZDNet.
Smartphones like HTC Max and Samsung Galaxy S5 allow hackers to steal the fingerprint from an infected device as device makers don’t completely lock done the sensor.
The report also points out those bigger problems can be caused by some devices that are ‘guarded only by system privilege instead of root. This means a simply rooted device can also be at greater risk.
Vendors have started releasing patches to safeguard the device, but the report didn’t really mention which vendor has more secure products. However, it does say that iPhone’s fingerprint scanner is more securing than Android. A hacker cannot get the fingerprint image without the crypto key, even if the sensor can be read directly.
The problem doesn’t just limit to phones and can be extended to laptops and other devices.
