Serious security bug found in Samsung flagships

Modern smartphones are equipped with advanced biometric authentication systems that provide reliable protection of personal data from unauthorized persons. However, there is no perfect protection, which once again proves the situation with Samsung smartphones. It turned out that the flagship Galaxy Note20 can be unlocked by anyone.
 
The vulnerability became known from the description of the January security update from Samsung. It talks about fixing the “abnormal behavior” of the fingerprint scanner in the Galaxy Note20 series smartphones. The essence of the problem is that any stranger could unlock the smartphone by simply scanning his finger.
 
The problem with the operation of the sub-screen fingerprint scanner was observed among users who pasted protective films on the displays of their smartphones. Because of this, there was a frequent false positive response of the scanner when the device was taken by strangers. Samsung doesn’t talk about this in more detail.
 
It is worth noting that the same problem was observed with the 2019 Samsung flagships, when gadgets with protective films were “opened” to third-party people. This was due to the fact that the South Korean firm uses ultrasonic sensors that scan the three-dimensional structure of the finger. When using silicone films, the owner’s fingerprint is “pressed” into the surface, and after that the scanner recognizes it, even if an unregistered finger is brought up. It’s unclear why Samsung made this mistake again.
 
Galaxy Note20 smartphone owners are advised to get the January security update as soon as possible.
 

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