Hackers Bypass New iPhone Fingerprint Security
Sunday, September 22, 2013 at 8:18AM Hackers from the Germany-based Chaos Computer Club (CCC) claim to have bypassed the fingerprint reader in Apple's iPhone 5s, dubbed "Touch ID," just two days after the smartphone first went on sale.
In a statement on its website, the CCC confirmed the bypass had taken place, adding: "A fingerprint of the phone user, photographed from a glass surface, was enough to create a fake finger that could unlock an iPhone 5s secured with Touch ID."
The video posted online on Sunday shows one user enrolling their finger, while later accessing the device using a different finger with a high-resolution latex or woodglue cast. The group detailed how they accessed the device using a fake print by converting a photographed fingerprint.
"Apple's sensor has just a higher resolution compared to the sensors so far," said CCC spokesperson Frank Rieger on the group's website. "So we only needed to ramp up the resolution of our fake."
The Chaos Computer Club is one of the longest-running hacking groups in the world. The CCC produces the world's oldest hacking conference and this year will celebrate its 30th gathering ("30C3") in Hamburg, Germany in December.
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