Screen protector defeats Samsung Galaxy S10 fingerprint reader

[SpaceGhostC2C]

9 hours ago, veldora said:

So just don't use cheap screen protectors that are mushy?

And how is that going to help you when someone trying to unlock our phone simply puts a cheap protector or similar over the fingerprint reader?

[DrMacintosh]

2 hours ago, Nowak said:

Forgetting about something, Doc?

Lifting a fingerprint is forensics. 

[Beef Boss]

14 minutes ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

And how is that going to help you when someone trying to unlock our phone simply puts a cheap protector or similar over the fingerprint reader?

That's an irrational fear lol. And even if you get into my phone, everything else is locked or not on the phone. All my devices require 2FA and manual authentication.

You can easily locate these phones nowadays, and clear them too if you lose them there isn't much of an issue here- for me anyway.

 

[SpaceGhostC2C]

Just now, veldora said:

That's an irrational fear lol.

What? It's the whole point of the original article... the fingerprint lock is rendered useless... If anyone ever trying to unlock your phone is "an irrational fear" then locking your phone in the first place is "irrational"... 

 

Just now, veldora said:

And even if you get into my phone, everything else is locked or not on the phone.

Great, but then you don't need any kind of lock, functional or not. The point of this news is simply that the fingerprint lock is easily defeated. Choosing a screen protector of a given quality on your side changes nothing, as I pointed out.

 

[Blademaster91]

43 minutes ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

What? It's the whole point of the original article... the fingerprint lock is rendered useless... If anyone ever trying to unlock your phone is "an irrational fear" then locking your phone in the first place is "irrational"... 

 

Great, but then you don't need any kind of lock, functional or not. The point of this news is simply that the fingerprint lock is easily defeated. Choosing a screen protector of a given quality on your side changes nothing, as I pointed out.

 

The original article doesn't mention if the fingerprint was set up before putting on the screen protector, or afterwards and if a fingerprint got stuck under the protector, which may change if the fingerprint reader could even be unlocked by putting a protector over the screen.

Having a fingerprint with 2FA is still a secure lock, better than not locking anything at all IMO, though I prefer the fingerprint reader on the back of the phone, sucks most phones are going to under screen.

[Beef Boss]

44 minutes ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

What? It's the whole point of the original article... the fingerprint lock is rendered useless... If anyone ever trying to unlock your phone is "an irrational fear" then locking your phone in the first place is "irrational"... 

 

Great, but then you don't need any kind of lock, functional or not. The point of this news is simply that the fingerprint lock is easily defeated. Choosing a screen protector of a given quality on your side changes nothing, as I pointed out.

 

Their use of a certain "gel" screen protector written in the article renders the finger print reader useless, don't use crappy screen protectors with these types of scanners- common knowledge.

second- irrational fear I define is someone applying a screen protector on my phone. Not someone trying to unlock my phone. Yes with this article, I'll be disabling my finger print reader - but still as long as you keep track of your assets you don't have much to worry about.

Third- a lock serves two purposes. To deter any possible intruders, and protect against actual invaders. You stating its irrational to lock your phone in the first place to disprove my argument proves you misunderstood me.

 

[TechyBen]

3 hours ago, Nowak said:

For those of you who want a demonstration of this, a Twitter user recorded this using a Note 10:

 

 

Ouch! That's even worse. Savage.

[MrFixitBlankFace]

Weird.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

3 hours ago, veldora said:

Their use of a certain "gel" screen protector written in the article renders the finger print reader useless, don't use crappy screen protectors with these types of scanners- common knowledge.

You keep not understanding: you don't need to use anything, someone else can just put whatever "gel" screen protector on top of the reader and unlock it.

 

3 hours ago, veldora said:

second- irrational fear I define is someone applying a screen protector on my phone. Not someone trying to unlock my phone.

The point is that both are the same thing... It's not like they'll carefully apply the protector permanently, as the video posted above shows.

 

3 hours ago, veldora said:

Yes with this article, I'll be disabling my finger print reader - but still as long as you keep track of your assets you don't have much to worry about.

That's the same as saying "as long as you keep track of your assets, you don't need a lock". In any case, that's irrelevant for the "just don't put a cheap screen protector" argument, which makes no sense - it's like saying "just don't pick your own locks".

3 hours ago, veldora said:

Third- a lock serves two purposes. To deter any possible intruders, and protect against actual invaders. You stating its irrational to lock your phone in the first place to disprove my argument proves you misunderstood me.

 

It's hard to understand you when you are worried about people unlocking your phone and not worried about people unlocking your phone at the same time

At any rate, though, I'm not interested in discussing you or me, I just wanted to point out the flaw in the original statement, and I think I've made my point clear by now.

[imreloadin]

13 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

Meanwhile the fp scanner on my Pixel 3 doesn't work with any prints at all, even ones registered.

What a time to be alive!

[Founders]

Hmm... I'm actually surprised this vulnerability hasn't been found sooner. Kind of ironic it took two people who probably weren't the most tech literate to find it too. 

[porina]

5 hours ago, Ehmc130 said:

Hmm... I'm actually surprised this vulnerability hasn't been found sooner. Kind of ironic it took two people who probably weren't the most tech literate to find it too. 

I think that is part of the problem. If you are familiar with how something works, you're less likely to do something unexpected with it.

[mr moose]

I'm glad google and malware in general have me sufficiently spooked not to use my phone for anything other than the most mundane of applications (calling people and looking up train times,  maybe a bit of youtube).  If anyone really wants to see into my mundane life they are going to have to watch me unlock with the pattern then they can read how I was late to pick up my daughter because I got chatting about generators with my father in law.   Finger print scanners are for people who trust the technology to use banking and cheat on their spouses.

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

22 hours ago, TVwazhere said:

I really wanted a glass one, but there's only one of the market that works with the built in finger print reader and it's because it uses either thinner glass or no glass at the spot where the scanner is. Currently I'm running without one at all, because i find any non-glass protector to feel sticky and add friction to swipes compared to glass.

2 words: Whitestone Dome

 

Thick and strong enough and has no impact on touch sensitivity.  Feels just like the original screen does. 

Whitestone does recommend putting the protector on first, then registering the fingerprint. 

 

That being said, I'm not a fan of in-screen fingerprint readers either.  I much prefer them on the back. 

[vanished]

I heard about this the other day.  First thing to go through my head is "how on earth did it take this long to notice this issue!?"  Within days of the iphone launching people were breaking face ID but the S10 has been out for months already and no one noticed until now?  Is there really that big of a gap between people trying to find dirt on apple and just not caring at all about what anyone else makes?

[Curious Pineapple]

21 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

Lifting a fingerprint is forensics. 

And something anyone can do at home with art supplies

 

We did print dusting in high school as an intro to forensic science....