The ultrasonic fingerprint sensor on the Samsung Galaxy S10 has been finally been bypassed. An Imgur user by the name of darkshark 3D-printed an impression of his fingerprint as an experiment to check if the esteemed fingerprint sensor on Samsung’s latest flagship could be fooled. As it turned out, to Samsung’s dismay, he was successful in doing so.
As you may know, the Galaxy S10 came out little over a month ago and had incredible new features. The most highlighted one being the inclusion of an Ultrasonic Fingerprint Sensor. In my review of the Galaxy S10, I mentioned that the sensor is “more secure and can’t be fooled”. Well, compared to all other fingerprint sensors used in smartphones, it is the most secure one out there. However, as it turns out, it can be fooled. You just need a 3D printer handy to do that.
In his post, darkshark has mentioned the whole process that took to achieve this. He took a picture of his fingerprint on a wineglass and then processed it to a point that a 3D model could be made. He then 3D-printed the model, which takes approximately 13 minutes. It wasn’t successful in the first attempt though. In fact, it took him 3 tries to get the depth of the ridges just right.
However, to his success, the third attempt was successful and his phone unlocked, proving that technology still has a long way to go till its completely foolproof.
I also compared Samsung’s ultrasonic fingerprint sensor to Apple’s FaceID calling them similar in terms of security. So does this mean Apple’s tech can also be fooled? Absolutely. In fact, Bkav, a Vietnamese cybersecurity firm did just that 2 years ago. They achieved it by making an accurate facemask of the person whose face was registered on the iPhone X. It worked as you can see in the video below.
The next time you trust the security of your device with your payments and bank details, just know that there is a method out there to bypass that. It’s going to be a while till we reach a point where we will have sure-fire ways of securing our devices. In the meantime, it’s better to stay cautious of people who have means of creating 3D replicas of your body parts.