Samsung announces fix for its critical fingerprint security flaw
Last week, it was revealed that a cheap $3 screen protector allowed just about anyone to bypass the in-display fingerprint sensor on the Samsung Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note 10, with the former being the first Samsung phone to take advantage of the technology. Samsung announced that they would be issuing a fix this week, and sure enough it has arrived.
According to user reports, it seems that the company has started to push out notifications to Galaxy S10 and Note 10 owners informing them that an update is on its way and that it should start to make its way into the hands of owners in the next 24 hours. The notification also revealed why those screen protectors are allowing users to bypass the fingerprint sensors.
Samsung says that due to some screen protectors having textured surfaces underneath it, when users register their fingerprints with the phone, what really happens is that the phone is registering the textured surface of the screen protector itself, as opposed to the user’s actual fingerprints.
This is why when anyone tries to unlock the phone using their fingerprint, it is registered because all they’re doing is pressing the screen protector’s textures into the sensor. Samsung is also advising users to re-register their fingerprints following the update, and that users should stop using those screen protectors.
In the meantime, some banking apps have started to blacklist Galaxy S10 and Note 10 devices from its apps in a bid to prevent any potential security issues.
Source: Android Police