Galaxy Note 7 Iris Scanner Explained (androidauthority.com)

An anonymous reader writes from a report via Android Authority: The Galaxy Note 7 was just announced and one of the most intriguing features is its iris scanner. Android Authority has a report explaining how it works: "According to the company, the device stores your registered iris information as an encrypted code safely in its hardware using its KNOX security platform. Whenever you want to access content, such as a protected app, the device first captures your iris pattern for recognition, extracts and digitizes it, and then proceeds to match it with the encrypted code to provide access. You can be sure that no one else apart from you can access your device in case it is stolen or lost because the Note 7 registers the iris information of only one person. Samsung has made all this possible by including a dedicated iris camera for recognizing the composition of the user's eyeballs. The dedicated iris camera uses a special image filter to receive and recognize the reflected images of the irises through an infrared light on the other end of that panel. The light emitted from the Galaxy Note 7's display allows the scanner to receive data even in low light environments." The iris scanner can be used to access private information via Samsung's Secure Folder feature. Samsung also plans to partner with major financial institutions to incorporate its iris scanner into mobile banking applications.

Comments

Re:I think I saw that movie

[Anonymous Coward]

I know you're joking, but iris scanners don't work with dead eyes, since the pupil dilates and the iris gets much smaller. Retina scanners still work with eyeballs on barbecue forks, not iris scanners.

I learned this from a friend who worked at an iris scanning company, so take it for what it's worth.

password fallback?

[DrYak]

Don't worry, you'll probably be able to fall back to using your secure password.

You know, the thing that look like base64-encodednoise from /dev/random... that you've completely forgotten about because you've always used the iris function right up until the bd conjunctivitis that started this morning.

Or the long password which is basically just two words followed by a number and even a "!" For good measure (hey, they asked to use a special). You know it's a good one because the 3 websites where you use it showed you a green bar in their security meter.
(What you don't know, is that 2 of these website got their DB hacked, they only used salted SHA-1 (hey, but it's salted) and your password is among the 75% of the million hash leak that got bruteforced within the first 2 days, because it's such a common pattern)

Re:password fallback?

[AmiMoJo]

Just write your password down and keep it at home somewhere. If someone steals your phone, even the cops, they won't have that password. If you are really paranoid you can destroy it later.

Or keep it in your password manager.

Too slow

[GrahamJ]

I don't think this will last because it's slower than a good fingerprint scanner.

Re:Can't wait...

[justcauseisjustthat]

Samsung's copying others now, Microsoft put it in the Lumia 950/XL almost a year ago, and ZTE's Grand S3 had about 18 months ago.

Re:No Sharing Allowed

[crow]

With the fingerprint scanner, you can add multiple fingerprints. This can be useful for reading the same finger in a different orientation, recording fingerprints from both thumbs, or letting multiple people unlock the same phone. There's no technical reason that they couldn't do the same with the iris scanner.

In my case, I like to let my wife unlock my phone so that she can handle it if someone texts me while I'm driving (or other similar situations). I'm sure lots of other people have legitimate reasons for wanting to have multiple people easily unlock the same phone.

Re:Does it pass the Simon Phoenix test?

[Dorianny]

That is, does it require a live eyeball that has not been forcibly removed from its socket?

"Research has shown that post-mortem eyes can be used for biometric identification for hours or days after death, despite the decay that occurs"

Although I suspect that if you are missing an eye or just plain dead, your phones security is probably the last of your worries

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[BrendaEM]

New Brief: New technology developments from FoneLock allows uses to unlock their phones with their body fluids. For the first time you can use a very personal way of securing your cellphone. Note: fluid test results may be uploaded and shared with our advertising partners on unpatched insecure servers and notebook computers left at drinking establishments.

Re:I think I saw that movie

[MancunianMaskMan]

I saw this other movie... some undesirable character is arrested and government agencies use force to hold his eye open to unlock his phone... thereby saving themselves the trouble of suing the phone manufacturer to back-door the phone. "A Smartphone Orange" I think it was called.

Re:No Sharing Allowed

[Angeret]

Considering how dry beanpoppa's response was, you sound like you wrote your comment after sitting on a nest of fire ants. He was right - you don't have to use the scanner (or the fingerprint reader, or pattern lock, etc) and you could use the fallback of a password anyway. The comment he replied to didn't come across as a joke in any way so you losing it complaining about someone else losing it was not your smartest move.

Re:No Sharing Allowed

[edtice1559]

Your wife could unlock it with a passcode. But please don't have her hold it in front of your eye while you are driving!