Samsung Galaxy S10 Fingerprint Sensor Tricked By 3D Printer

A Samsung Galaxy S10 user was able to show how he could trick the in-display fingerprint sensor using a 3D printer.

According to a report in The Verge, citing a post on Imgur, the user was able to trick the Galaxy by taking a picture of his fingerprint via a wineglass, uploading it to Photoshop and creating a model with 3D printing software. After 13 minutes, he had a 3D printed version of his fingerprint that he used to get into the phone. The report noted the Galaxy S10’s fingerprint scanner is hard to trick because it uses an ultrasonic sensor, but that didn’t thwart this particular user’s efforts.

Although the report may raise security concerns, the use of fingerprint scanning technology to validate users is expected to explode this year. In the fall, research analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted fingerprint on display technology will see growth of 500 percent this year. The analyst predicts Samsung will adopt the technology with an update for the Galaxy S10 slated for the first quarter of 2021.

In addition to using fingerprints to access Samsung phones, the South Korean consumer electronics giant lets users unlock their phones with facial recognition. The company also recently applied for a patent covering a device authentication method in which a user’s blood pressure would be measured to verify their identity. The scanners would be located in the usual places: in the back of a smartphone or smartwatch case. The software processing the blood flow data “would be used to generate a waveform pattern for the authentication application that must be matched,” according to a Pocketnow report from early last year. Samsung also has a patent for a wrist sensor that could read a user’s veins to confirm his or her identity.