Last week, several reports emerged on the internet regarding the faulty fingerprint sensor on the Galaxy S10/Note 10, which lets anyone access the device through certain screen protectors.
A British user named Lisa Nelson discovered the issue after her husband was able to access her device after applying a cheap silicone screen protector. He was able to unlock Lisa’s Galaxy S10 with both his thumbs even though he had never added his own fingerprints to the phone.
Samsung has acknowledged this issue and is working on a software patch to resolve this vulnerability. According to the company, the issue is caused by the fingerprint sensor incorrectly reading patterns from the silicone cover and not from a user’s finger. As a result, anyone is able to unlock the device with these silicone screen covers.
Samsung has also released a statement regarding the fingerprint sensor and how they respond to certain silicone screen protectors. The statement advises users to refrain from using such covers until a software fix is released.
This issue involved ultrasonic fingerprint sensors unlocking devices after recognizing 3-dimensional patterns appearing on certain silicone screen protecting cases as users’ fingerprints.
To prevent any further issues, we advise that Galaxy Note10/10+ and S10/S10+/S10 5G users who use such covers to remove the cover, delete all previous fingerprints and newly register their fingerprints.
If you currently use front screen protective covers, to ensure optimum fingerprint scanning, please refrain from using this cover until your device has been updated with a new software patch.
Samsung promises to release the patch as early as next week. Hopefully, it will allow users to keep using screen protectors and prevent unauthorized access.
