Samsung Galaxy S10 Owners Beware: Anyone Can Unlock Your Phone
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Most of you are used to your smartphone being unlocked either through a passcode or your thumbprint. It keeps your data protected. Now imagine if anyone could access your mobile phone by using their fingerprints, you'd be a little worried perhaps.
This is precisely what has happened to owners of Samsung's relatively new Galaxy S10 smartphones.
A British woman discovered that her husband could unlock her phone with both of his thumbprints.
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Unlocking the phone
The Sun newspaper in the U.K. reported that Lisa Neilson discovered her phone could be unlocked at will.
Neilson had bought a £2.70 ($3.45) screen protector for her Samsung Galaxy S10 when she realized her left thumb could unlock her screen.
Samsung Galaxy S10 Fingerprint Reader Defeated by Silicon Case - by @Ionut_Ilascuhttps://t.co/7QnaaE9JFx
— BleepingComputer (@BleepinComputer) October 15, 2019
Her phone had been set up to only recognize her right thumb.
Curious, she then asked her husband to try and unlock her phone — both of his thumbs could also unlock her phone.
Wanting to check this even further, Neilson checked her sister's Galaxy S10, and she quickly realized the same issue was happening there as well — anyone could unlock these smartphones.
According to the BBC News' report on the subject, Samsung said they were "aware of the case of S10's malfunctioning fingerprint recognition and will soon issue a software patch."
About that "Any fingerprint can unlock your Samsung Galaxy S10" report https://t.co/KZikXMAVry pic.twitter.com/Fs5TiUYzAj
— Graham Cluley (@gcluley) October 17, 2019
The Galaxy S10 was only released earlier this year in March, with much anticipation and excitement. The company had described their flashy new fingerprint system as "revolutionary."
There have been questions about the South Korean tech company releasing products too soon, without thoroughly testing their durability and functionality.
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