iPhone 5S Fingerprint Hack Can Take Over Owner’s Apple Account

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A cat’s paw can be used to unlock the iPhone 5S, but it looks like a picture of your fingerprint can facilitate entry too.

German security firm SRL, reported by The Guardian, said an image of a fingerprint can successfully unlock the phone, enabling identity theft

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“Users leave copies of their fingerprints everywhere; including on the devices they protect. Fingerprints are not fit for secure local user authentication as long as spoofs (‘fake fingers’) can be produced from these pervasive copies,” SLR said in a blog post.

Here’s what would have to happen: First, a thief would have to turn on Airplane Mode as soon as they steal the device. This is actually quite easy to do without a fingerprint — if the owner hasn’t changed the default, the thief can access Airplane Mode via the Control Center on the lock screen. That disables all wireless connections, preventing the iPhone’s owner from doing a remote wipe. Read more…

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