SkieGod Cyber Access: 3 ways to bypass Apple's fingerprint scanner

3 ways to bypass Apple's fingerprint scanner

Tuesday 24 September 2013

It didn't take long for hackers to bypass the iPhone 5s fingerprint scanner. As soon as the new devices and iOS7 were launched with the added security feature, hack-minded folk got busy finding ways to bypass or render obsolete the much-lauded new security enhancement. So far there's been three interesting ways to get past the fingerprint scanner, some more serious than others, with varying degrees of success. But considering the new feature has only been out for a couple of weeks we expect to see a lot more soon.


Make a fake finger

Perhaps the most problematic and high tech of the ways to hack the iPhone fingerprint scanner, is the fake fingerprint made by German hacker group, Chaos Computer Club. The group demonstrates in a YouTube video how to create a fake fingerprint from a photograph of the user's finger – something not hard to come by in this world of shiny fingerprint-loving surfaces, like the front of the iPhone for example.Link to Video.
The following description of the process comes from the group's website:

First, the fingerprint of the enrolled user is photographed with 2400 dpi resolution. The resulting image is then cleaned up, inverted and laser printed with 1200 dpi onto transparent sheet with a thick toner setting. Finally, pink latex milk or white woodglue is smeared into the pattern created by the toner onto the transparent sheet. After it cures, the thin latex sheet is lifted from the sheet, breathed on to make it a tiny bit moist and then placed onto the sensor to unlock the phone.

Use an iOS7 loophole

It was only out for a few hours when this major security loophole in iOS7 was revealed. First, Jose Rodriguez found that the new operating system was not so secure after all. He discovered a way to bypass the fingerprint scanner and get to the phone's contacts and photos through a mildly convoluted series of button presses: Control Center > Clock > hold Power button > Cancel on shutdown screen > double-tap Home button to bring up multitasking view and access contacts, camera/gallery and more. It worked, despite taking a few attempts, and has been replicated by plenty more people since his discovery. Until Apple fixes it, the only way to secure this flaw is by disabling the Control Center option to ''Access on Lock Screen'' in Settings.Link to Video.

Then just a couple of days ago, YouTuber Karam Daoud posted a video demonstrating the ability to make normal calls from the emergency-only dialer screen. Simply repeatedly trying to make a call resulted in the phone blacking out and making the call anyway. So much for additional security.
Link to Video.

What do you think about these?tell us what,s on your mind

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments