Keeping your smartphone locked behind a fingerprint scanner seems like the most secure way to protect your privacy, but it turns out this may not be as safe as you once thought. Researchers found that with an inkjet printer and some special ink and paper, anyone could hack your phone in less than 15 minutes.
Researchers Kai Cao and Anil Jain from Michigan State University discovered a method to get through a smartphone’s fingerprint scanner by scanning a fingerprint at 300 dpi and printing it on conductive AgIC paper with conductive silver ink.
A printed fingerprint was used to trick Huawei Honor 7 and Samsung Galaxy s6 phones. These devices immediately opened when the printed fingerprint was used. Watch the video below to see the fake fingerprints at work.
Although only two smartphones were tested, multiple devices, including iPhone 5S and later models, Samsung Galaxy S5 and S7, and HTC One Max use similar fingerprint-scanning security.
Future smartphones and tablets will likely be equipped with fingerprint scanners for quick access, and as devices such as these include more ways to store sensitive information or make payments, having fool-proof security will become increasingly important.
Cao and Jain’s research was done to spread awareness of possible hacks that can be fixed by smartphone manufacturers for the future.
You can see the full details of the research online here.
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