Remember when the iPhone 5s was first launched and German hackers took just weeks to hack it? Well, back then, it was a bit tricky because in order to copy a fingerprint, you would have to lift it off a physical surface. Now, the same group of people – Chaos Computer Club (CCC), says that they can clone a fingerprint using only everyday photographs captured with “standard photo camera”.
Jan Krissler from Chaos Computer Club, says that he successfully cloned German defence minister, Ursula von der Leyen’s fingerprint. All he used was a close-up photo of her thumb, as well as other pictures from different angles taken during a public event she was at.
Since Apple introduced Touch ID, many other smartphone manufacturers started including fingerprint scanner onto their smartphone – HTC One Max, Samsung Galaxy S5, Huawei Mate 7 just to name a few, it’s no wonder why hackers are getting more obsessed in trying to hack fingerprints. Thankfully for places such as banks uses more sophisticated security system so all a hacker can do with the fingerprint is maybe access an iPhone…for now at least.
Does this mean that we’re going to need to wear gloves soon to be safe? According to Krissler, he suggested that “politicians will presumably wear gloves when talking in public”.
