Apple Fingerprint Scanner Hacked

(Berlin, Germany)

Apple recently launched the latest top-end model of its wildly successful iPhone, the 5S, to much fanfare. But a German hacker organization has thrown a wrench in the works by bypassing the smartphone's much-heralded fingerprint scanner just two days after launch.

It is supposed to represent a major step forward in mobile phone security by replacing the password. But the fingerprint sensor on Apple's new iPhone 5S has already been compromised just two days after it went on sale. The German hacker organization Chaos Computer Club (CCC) says it has successfully bypassed the biometric security system, called TouchID, using "easy everyday means."[…]

To bypass it, the hackers used an iPhone 5S programmed with a fingerprint, and then took a high-resolution picture of the print from a separate glass surface before transferring it onto a transparent film which, after being breathed on to make it slightly moist, could be used to gain access to the device.

The hackers aimed to prove that fingerprint biometrics are unsuitable for security and should not be used. Reportedly, the mission was accomplished.