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iPhone 5S: Thieves may mutilate owners in bid to gain access to fingerprint-reading h

waloshin

waloshin

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Oct 9, 2008
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Thieves have mutilated victims to gain access to phones equipped with a fingerprint reader, an expert has warned.

Yesterday, Apple launched its iPhone 5S, which includes the Touch ID feature, an integrated sensor on the device's home button that reads your fingerprint in order to unlock your phone.

Marc Rogers said the sensors can provide a convenient way to unlock gadgets while also boosting security.

But they have led criminals to commit increasingly brutal robberies and even chop off phone-owners' fingertips, the chief researcher at mobile security firm Lookout claimed.

Fraudsters have also succeeded in lifting and duplicating prints with technology that “is only going to improve with time”, he added.

“Thieves in some regions have worked out that you can force a victim to unlock a secured device, and in some extreme cases have also mutilated victims in order to steal their fingerprint.”

The hi-tech scanners are said to work best when combined with a pin code or another security feature.

“Fingerprints can be a useful addition to security but their value depends highly on the type of fingerprint reader and how it is being used - for example, the best use of a fingerprint is to provide a convenient way to unlock something in a medium to low security scenario,” Mr Rogers said.

“Unlocking a device with a fingerprint, if done right, can be much more convenient than entering a pin code multiple times a day.”

PA

Source
 
Oh please, stop it with your sensationalism. I lost any respect for you. You only leave threads open as baits.

But what the heck, I'll bite, unless you are part of CIA and have crucial evidence in a phone, I doubt it will happen.
 
I'm sure it will happen. But I'm sure the threat to take off a finger unless you tell them the 4 digit pin has worked before too.
 
Lol.

Given the phone isn't even OUT yet, and there have been fingerprint readers on laptops for about a decade without incident, I am calling BS.

Besides, it is far easier and less messy to just beat the passcode out of somebody, or even just threaten them for it.
 
i have had it up to here with the sensationalism around yet another Apple implementation. Location-gate, Antenna-gate and now Touch-gate. The level of intelligence in the world is in severe decline.
 
Apple bought a company called AuthenTec for their finger print scanning technology. From http://appleinsider.com/articles/12...sor_appears_key_to_apples_urgent_acquisition:

"because of the approach, anyone who attempts to swipe the finger of a dead person in order to access important physical or logical data would fail."

It's fair to assume this would also cover fingers cut off victims after a fairly short time...
 
waloshin said:
Thieves have mutilated victims to gain access to phones equipped with a fingerprint reader, an expert has warned.

Yesterday, Apple launched its iPhone 5S, which includes the Touch ID feature, an integrated sensor on the device's home button that reads your fingerprint in order to unlock your phone.

Marc Rogers said the sensors can provide a convenient way to unlock gadgets while also boosting security.

But they have led criminals to commit increasingly brutal robberies and even chop off phone-owners' fingertips, the chief researcher at mobile security firm Lookout claimed.

Fraudsters have also succeeded in lifting and duplicating prints with technology that “is only going to improve with time”, he added.

“Thieves in some regions have worked out that you can force a victim to unlock a secured device, and in some extreme cases have also mutilated victims in order to steal their fingerprint.”

The hi-tech scanners are said to work best when combined with a pin code or another security feature.

“Fingerprints can be a useful addition to security but their value depends highly on the type of fingerprint reader and how it is being used - for example, the best use of a fingerprint is to provide a convenient way to unlock something in a medium to low security scenario,” Mr Rogers said.

“Unlocking a device with a fingerprint, if done right, can be much more convenient than entering a pin code multiple times a day.”

PA

Source
Click to expand...

You always sound like you should be writing for the National Enquirer.
 
I'm going to use my nose to unlock my iPhone. Then when they cut off my fingers they won't have access to my phone.
 
I read an article about users having their fingers cut off if they own a 5S in this mornings paper! I laughed me head off, and so did many of my colleagues. Its just downright ridiculous isn't it?

It'll be cutting your face off for facial recognition software next!! :eek:

If somebody threatened to cut my finger off to gain access to my phone, I would willingly open it for them. Having been mugged in the past, I have to say that possessions can be replaced and I will happily hand over anything if my life is threatened.
 
Its ok, im sure 3rd party accessory makers will create a metal glove like cover for your fingers.

Either that or wear a thimble thing over your finger ;)
 
[MOD NOTE]
Lets leave racial generalizations out of the discussion.
 
I could picture a thief dumb enough to actually think that way, but not see it happening. If a thief is holding a weapon, the sensible thing to do is open the phone for them with the PIN. And hope that satisfies their demands and prevents you personal injury.
 
If we have phones with retinal scanners, someone is going to have their eye gouged out.
If we have phones with hair scanners, someone is going to get their head shaved.
If we have phones with breath scanners, someone is going to get their lungs torn out.
If we have phones with butt cheek scanners, someone.... ah, I give up.

I think someone (both the reporter and the thief) has been watching too much CSI or NCIS.
 
The flaw in ALL of these discussions is the failure to realize that there is ALSO the fallback of a PIN unlock code, just like there always has been.

As a result, the fingerprints are no more secure than the PIN code, because you can still just use the PIN. (I don't think anyone disputes that the purpose of the fingerprint scan is not added security, but convenience.)

They are also no more dangerous, for the same reason.
 
notjustjay said:
The flaw in ALL of these discussions is the failure to realize that there is ALSO the fallback of a PIN unlock code, just like there always has been.

As a result, the fingerprints are no more secure than the PIN code, because you can still just use the PIN. (I don't think anyone disputes that the purpose of the fingerprint scan is not added security, but convenience.)

They are also no more dangerous, for the same reason.
Click to expand...

And, of course, as now, you can set a complex password instead of the PIN...
 
Ah, another fine waloshin thread.:D
 

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notjustjay said:
I don't think anyone disputes that the purpose of the fingerprint scan is not added security, but convenience.
Click to expand...

I haven't listened carefully to how Apple is marketing it, but the impression I am getting from the people reporting on it is that it is an added security feature. (I agree though that it confers no additional security.)

Actually, this is a rather clever move on Apple's part. Even without advertising it as such, many people will interpret it as an enhanced security feature. And its arrival is a timely one given the ramping up of media attention to smartphone (and especially iPhone) thefts.
 
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