Can A Photo Of Your Hand Unlock Your iPhone?

One of the things I was most excited about when I got my iPhone 5s early last year was the TouchID feature. As you probably well know, this feature allows an iPhone to be unlocked with the fingerprint of its owner. (It also authorizes purchases, apps, etc.). My experience has been pretty good with it overall – sometimes I’m forced to enter my pin number to unlock my phone, but those experiences are the exception rather than the norm. Of course when Apple first began to talk about TouchID, many wondered how safe it would be and if there was some kind of easy way for a thief to break into your phone. According to a German hacker, all someone has to do is manipulate a photo of your hand and they can use it to unlock your phone.

The process isn’t quite as simple as the last sentence implies, though. Jan Krissler is a hacker from Germany, and he recently demonstrated how he used photos of German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen’s hand to ultimately gain access into the locked iPhone. It all started with some hi-resolution photos of the hand that were then manipulated by VeriFinger software into a full size fingerprint. Once that part was completed, he printed it out the fingerprint, and eventually made a professional mold of it which was apparently able to completely bypass TouchID.

Krissler ultimately states the those in high-profile positions should wear gloves if they want to protect their fingerprints from hackers. Wow! Who would’ve thought?

I don’t know what you think about this, but I for one think it’s a bit scary. Maybe you might want to start wearing gloves if you’re worried about this happening to you! Your thoughts? Let us know in the comments section below!

[Image via Full-TimeWhistle]

SOURCE: Yahoo Tech