One of the biggest new features with the Samsung Galaxy S10 smartphone has been hacked.
Cybersecurity is a huge problem. And Samsung just hit the worse of it with its ultrasonic fingerprint sensor seeing big problems before customers could fall in love with the device. We were indeed happy to see the “in-display fingerprint display. It assured us that it was capable of using the 3D map of our fingerprint to open the smartphone. Naturally, this is meant for only you but at this moment someone else can snoop into your device without fingers. Yes, it’s a real deal.
How the Samsung Galaxy ultrasonic fingerprint scanner works
Typically the new in-display captures the 3D image of your fingerprint. TThe technique is made possible through the use of very high-frequency ultrasonic soundwaves which will give a comprehensive detail of your fingerprint. his we know means that this scanner takes a deeper view of your finger than the old 2D variants.
When you think about such a technique, then the only thing that comes to mind is that it should have worked excellently. So what went wrong?
What the hacker did to hack the ultrasonic fingerprint scanner
Well according to the hacker, the 3D scanner works as perfectly as it was meant to, but there is a big flaw in what the design actually sees. Yes, it uses a detailed map of your fingerprint so what if someone had a photoshopped 3D model of your fingerprint picture. Yup, that’s what the hacker did.
The researcher or hacker, who has managed to remain anonymous as reported by Forbes goes by the name darkshark9. He simply used a photograph of his fingerprint and here comes the scary part. No one actually needs your actual fingerprints to get this hack conducted. Any kind of wine glass, mug or something you touched may be to do the trick.
The hacker simply to a photograph of his fingerprint from a wine glass and with the help of photoshop created an alpha mask of it. After this, he moved the mask to a 3Ds max software where he conducted some geometrical displacements to give it an in-depth feel and upgraded the 3D model. Next, he used the AnyCubic Photon LCD resin printer to bring the accuracy a notch lower in order to transform the ridges of the fingerprint perfectly. Printing took only 13 minutes but the entire process would surely have only taken a little time.
Then he simply placed the fake fingerprint on the Galaxy S10, and yes, it opened every time he used it. This is a huge problem because according to the hacker someone might not even need you to touch glass at all. Your smartphone should be enough to pick up the fingerprint and recreate the photograph. So all you folks who don’t use passwords or PIN for your device. Its time to use all three kinds of authentication if you like me have a lot more than chats and messages in your smartphone.
If you use fingerprint or Face ID, you need to rethink it
You should also be aware that the optical scanner or those funky lower 2D facial scanners and fingerprint sensors are also hackable. According to the hacker, a simple scan and paper print out of your finger can go through your fingerprint scanner.
In addition, the so-called Apple’s iPhone X Face ID was cracked last year with a fake head print from a video of the owner of the smartphone. To be on the safe side, you surely need passwords and PINs. You never know who can actually get into your smartphone using only a video or a simple scan of your fingerprint or the beer you just had. I’m not just saying this, these are all facts. Be warned.
