Was Touch ID Really Hacked?
Is copying a fingerprint is an actual hack?
There’s been a lot of talk about Touch ID being hacked lately, but I wouldn’t consider this method hacking. If you haven’t heard, there’s a group called the Chaos Computer Club that’s claimed to have tricked the Touch ID sensor. Take a look at a demo.
If you ask me, this guy looks like he’s tweekin’ out or something. Maybe it’s because he spent around 48 hours straight trying to “hack” the sensor. Why do I think this is more of a trick than a real hack? Well here’s exactly how they pull this off. Simply pull a fingerprint off of something (in this case glass), and put a copy of the fingerprint onto a piece of film that mimics a real piece of skin. This is CSI stuff; only a hard-core criminal would go through all the trouble to pull a fingerprint.
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Is it still secure?
It’s still more secure and much less annoying than entering a 4-digit passcode. There’s only one time the fingerprint scanner would be less secure than a typical one, and it’s very unrealistic. If you were being held hostage they could force you to press it, but even then, someone getting in to your iPhone would be the least of your worries! Also, the 5S forces you to unlock the device with your passcode if it’s been off for more than 48 hours. It would be nice if we could change that time to anything we wanted though.
Conclusion
Whether you consider this a true hack or not is up to your own discretion. Would I still use Touch ID if I had an iPhone 5S? Yes I definitely would. It doesn’t bother me to know that someone could crack my password by lifting my fingerprint. If you want to go through that much trouble to get into my phone, have fun stealing it, I’ll just disable it via iCloud :)
