Apple's TouchID Fingerprint Scanner: Still Hackable

electronic convict writes: A year ago, security researcher Marc Rogers demonstrated how to spoof the TouchID sensor in the iPhone 5S using some Elmer's glue and glycerol — oh, and a high resolution camera and a laser printer. Has TouchID security improved at all on the iPhone 6? Not really, Rogers reports in his latest post, in which he again hacks the iPhone 6's TouchID sensors using the same method as before. "Fake fingerprints created using my previous technique were able to readily fool both devices [the 6 and the 5S]," he reports. Rogers, however, says there's no reason to panic, as the attack requires substantial skill, patience and a good clear fingerprint. As he writes: "We use locks on our doors to keep criminals out not because they are perfect, but because they are both convenient and effective enough to meet most traditional threats."

Comments

Re: Other hackable things

[pushing-robot]

So... get an iPhone, set a complex passcode, and use your fingerprint the rest of the time?

You can hold home+power for a few seconds to reboot the phone, and your passcode is required to unlock the phone after a reboot/shutdown.

Re:Law Enforcement

[AmiMoJo]

Law enforcement use special bags to keep the phone powered up. The bag is basically a Faraday cage so that the phone can't be remote wiped, and has a charging cable built in to prevent the phone being powered off.