NEW YORK—Are fingerprint sensors on phones, which are viewed by credit unions and banks as a very strong method to ID account-holders, secure?
Maybe not: a new report casts doubt on the security of phone fingerprint biometrics, reported Patch.
The study, from New York University, found that fingerprint scans via smartphones may be vulnerable to hackers.
“While a fingerprint is unique, the authors point out that the small sensors on many phones do not capture the full print; they only match portions of a user's fingerprints. Many phones also allow users to record multiple fingerprints, meaning that anyone trying to break through the lock would have multiple fragments of as many as 10 separate fingerprints to attempt a match, which greatly increases the likelihood of a false ID,” stated Patch.
"Not surprisingly, there's a much greater chance of falsely matching a partial print than a full one, and most devices rely only on partials for identification," said Nasir Memon, a professor of computer science and engineering at NYU Tandon, who led the study.