April 11 was the official launch date of the new Galaxy S5. After 4 days of it's launch it has been discovered that the newest feature, the fingerprint sensor, has the same security problems as Apple devices or others had. SRLabs, a German firm used a method to hack S5's fingerprint sensor. They used a similar method as the one used to hack the Touch ID sensor from the iPhone 5S. So what they did? They took a photo of a fingerprint with a iPhone 4S and then made a wood-glue mold. Then it's simple, just use that mold to bypass Galaxy S5 fingerprint sensor ! As simple as it looks.
The weird thing is that the German firm used the same mold to bypass a iPhone 4S Touch ID system. The second disturbing thing is that if you enter a S5 with a fake molded fingerprint you could make payments through PayPal without entering a password. So if you are a hacker you could just make a mold and then use it to make payments. The other functionality of the scanner is to authenticate digital purchases, but this is more succeptible to hacking.
So what do you thing about the tests that SRLabs did? Is this meaning that the S5 is not that security trusting as it sounds?
Watch the video from SRLabs!
April 11 was the official launch date of the new Galaxy S5. After 4 days of it's launch it has been discovered that the newest feature, the fingerprint sensor, has the same security problems as Apple devices or others had. SRLabs, a German firm used a method to hack S5's fingerprint sensor. They used a similar method as the one used to hack the Touch ID sensor from the iPhone 5S. So what they did? They took a photo of a fingerprint with a iPhone 4S and then made a wood-glue mold. Then it's simple, just use that mold to bypass Galaxy S5 fingerprint sensor ! As simple as it looks.
The weird thing is that the German firm used the same mold to bypass a iPhone 4S Touch ID system. The second disturbing thing is that if you enter a S5 with a fake molded fingerprint you could make payments through PayPal without entering a password. So if you are a hacker you could just make a mold and then use it to make payments. The other functionality of the scanner is to authenticate digital purchases, but this is more succeptible to hacking.
So what do you thing about the tests that SRLabs did? Is this meaning that the S5 is not that security trusting as it sounds?
Watch the video from SRLabs!
What's my model number?
There are several ways to locate your model number:
- Option 1
- On your device, go to Settings, then "About device" and scroll down to "Model number"
- Option 2
- Often times you can view the model number inside the device, by removing the battery
- Option 3
- Using Samsung's model/serial number location tool