Galaxy S10’s ultrasonic fingerprint sensor fooled by a 3D-printed fingerprint

galaxy s10 hands-on 8 in-display fingerprint

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The Galaxy S10 and S10+ both feature an under-display ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, which, Samsung claims, is more secure and accurate than other similar technologies on the market. However, it still may not be secure enough to trust for everything. Imgur user darkshark has just proved that.

3D-printed fingerprint fools Galaxy S10

In a detailed post on Imgur, darshark has shown that the Galaxy S10's under-display ultrasonic fingerprint sensor can be easily fooled by a 3D-printed fingerprint. While his method doesn't read any less than something out of a spy novel, the fact that he could easily fool a technology touted to be ultra secure is something to be worried about.

According to darkshark, he took a photograph of his fingerprint on a wine glass using his smartphone. He then used Photoshop to increase the contrast of the image, created an alpha mask, and then pulled the height and depth details in 3DS Max. Then using an AnyCubic Photon LCD resin printer, he printed a 3D image of his fingerprint and used it to fool the Galaxy S10's under-display ultrasonic fingerprint sensor.

Darkshark noted that it took him three reprints to get the things right. But once done, the 3D print could unlock the phone as smoothly as his actual finger does. He further said that one can produce better results using a DSLR camera. One can also use a telephoto lens to steal one's fingerprint from across the room, or even further. This raises some serious questions about the safety and privacy of users.

Both Qualcomm and Samsung have been advertising the Galaxy S10's ultrasonic fingerprint sensor as the next level of security. However, darshark just proved that fingerprint sensors, in their current implementation on smartphones, are not as safe as we would like them to be.