The iPhone 5s has been available for only three days and already a group has found a way to bypass the smartphone's Touch ID fingerprint-based authentication system. The group concocted an elaborate system to replicate a fingerprint that's associated with a particular iPhone 5s, and the hack requires physical access to the device.
Apple's Touch ID technology was bypassed only three days after the iPhone 5s was launched
Touch ID is a new feature built into the iPhone 5s's Home button that allows the smartphone to scan your fingerprint instead of requiring a passcode to access apps and data. According to Apple, the system is more secure than fingerprint reader systems from other companies — a point that the gChaos Computer Club claims is false.
The group started by scanning the fingerprint associated with an iPhone at high resolution, and then printing it out for transfer to another material such as latex. Once the material holding the print, complete with ridges and grooves, has finished setting up, the group placed it over someone else's finger and used it to successfully unlock the iPhone.
The Chaos Computer Club said, “In reality, Apple's sensor has just a higher resolution compared to the sensors so far. So we only needed to ramp up the resolution of our fake.”
They added that it's a simple process to lift fingerprints and then convert those into fakes that can be used to bypass security systems. “You leave them everywhere, and it is far too easy to make fake fingers out of lifted prints,” they said.