• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Advertise With Us
  • Contact
  • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy statement (CA)
    • Cookie policy (CA)
    • Privacy statement (UK)
    • Cookie policy (UK)
    • Privacy statement (US)
    • Cookie Policy (US)
    • Privacy statement (EU)
    • Cookie policy (EU)
    • Disclaimer

TechWalls

Technology News | Gadget Reviews | Tutorials

  • Reviews
  • Tech News
  • Tech Guide
  • Gadget & Apps

Samsung Galaxy S5 fingerprint reader can be easily hacked

Updated on Apr 18, 2014 by Guest Authors

When Samsung debuted its flagship Galaxy S5 smartphone last week, there was little buzz and hype over the gadget’s fingerprint scanning technology. The feature, however, made headlines a few days later, not for its cutting-edge quality in terms of security, but for the exact opposite to that: the system is not secured.

Security Research Labs researchers have been able to apparently hack the smartphone, bringing to light a flaw that could expose the users’ personal data, bank accounts, credit card numbers and other sensitive information to hackers.

The hackers first indexed a genuine fingerprint onto the Galaxy S5 scanner and then used a latent mold of the same fingerprint to bypass the security system, unlocking everything inside a critical infrastructure as easily as reciting the alphabet. Now here is the more alarming part of the flaw: the S5 scanner is directly linked to PayPal and subsequently directs real users, or hackers, to other online payment services.

galaxy-s5-fingerprint-scanner

What is equally troubling about this flaw is that there seems to be an unrestricted number of attempts to enter a fingerprint, false or genuine. Samsung did not seem to have learned from a similar previous pitfall that the Apple’s iPhone 5s TouchID fingerprint scanner has fallen into shortly after the smartphone was released in 2013.

All this puts in question the feasibility of fingerprint scanning features compared to the traditional password as a means of securing our online credentials. Both have their innate weaknesses, of course. Fingerprint reading, for one, can be alarming when it is stolen in the form of a mold as in the case of the test performed by SRLabs.

Although it is an innovative approach to security, offering more convenience and personal touch because all that is involved is a part of your body, but the strength of safeguard required can never be understated.

As imperfect as every technological advancement is, the S5’s fingerprint reader is just one example of how a lax security system is bound for failure. There are other alternatives to fingerprint scanning and password that are underway, such as Google’s USB-based security token. But even that is an unprecedented feature, leaving so many rooms for enhancement.

There is eventually a one-size-fits-all to all our online security needs. Nothing seems to be capable of complete security nowadays, not even the encryption. But the options we have so far are better than nothing at all, only that the onus of boosting their strength remains our responsibility in the end.

Disclosure: We might earn commission from qualifying purchases. The commission help keep the rest of my content free, so thank you!

Footer

EPOMAKER CIDOO V65 V2 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard Review

VTOMAN FlashSpeed 1500 Portable Power Station Review

OKP L1 Robot Vacuum Cleaner Review – Affordable Robot with LiDAR Navigation

KEF LS50 Bookshelf Speakers Review: A Sound Decision Over the LS50 Meta

Follow TechWalls

YoutubeFacebookTwitterInstagram

Recent Posts

  • EPOMAKER CIDOO V65 V2 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard Review
  • Azulle’s BYTE4: Customization at Its Finest With 3 Stellar Add-on Modules
  • VTOMAN FlashSpeed 1500 Portable Power Station Review
  • OpenRock S Review – Revolutionizing the World of Earbuds

Copyright © 2023 · All Rights Reserved

Manage Cookie Consent
We use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. We do this to improve browsing experience and to show personalized ads. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional cookies Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}