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German hacker team Chaos Computer Club has posted a video showing how to bypass Apple’s Touch ID.
CCC appears to have cracked the iPhone 5S’s fingerprint sensor security measure within two days of the device going on sale.
The team did this by taking a fingerprint of the user, photographed from a glass surface, it then used this to create a ‘fake fingerprint’ which was put onto film and placed over a real finger to unlock an iPhone.
CCC spokesman Frank Rieger commented: "It is plain stupid to use something that you can´t change and that you leave everywhere every day as a security token.
“The public should no longer be fooled by the biometrics industry with false security claims. Biometrics is fundamentally a technology designed for oppression and control, not for securing everyday device access.”
David Emm, senior security researcher at Kaspersky Labs agrees that a fingerprint scan is a poor substitute for a password: “If my passcode becomes compromised, I can simply replace it with a new one – hopefully one that’s more secure. But I can’t change my fingerprint – it’s part of what I am and so I’m stuck with it.”
Check out CCC’s video below:
This isn’t the first security issue Apple has faced recently. It was discovered last week that it’s possible to bypass a passcode-locked iPhone by using iOS 7’s new ‘Control Centre’ from the lock screen.
