Nokia 9 Buggy Update Lets Anyone Bypass Fingerprint Scanner With a Pack of Gum (zdnet.com) 15
A buggy update for Nokia 9 PureView handsets has apparently impacted the smartphone model's in-screen fingerprint scanner, which can now be bypassed using unregistered fingerprints or even with something as banal as a pack of gum. From a report: Multiple users have complained about this problem over the weekend, after installing an OS update (v4.22) released on April 18. The update was meant to improve the phone's in-screen fingerprint scanner module -- so that users won't have to press their fingers too hard on the screen before the phone unlocks -- yet it had the exact opposite effect the company hoped for. While initially, the reported issues appeared to be new, a video recorded by another user showed the same problem (unlocking phones with unregistered fingerprints) even before the v4.22 update, meaning that the update just made the unlocking bug worse than it already was.
Sounds like it worked (Score:2)
The update was meant to improve the phone's in-screen fingerprint scanner module -- so that users won't have to press their fingers too hard on the screen before the phone unlocks -- yet it had the exact opposite effect the company hoped for.
That doesn't sound like the exact opposite, it sounds like it did improve the scanner in that now it doesn't matter which finger you use, or even if you use a finger at all.
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Software testing? (Score:3)
The update was meant to improve the phone's in-screen fingerprint scanner module -- so that users won't have to press their fingers too hard on the screen before the phone unlocks -- yet it had the exact opposite effect the company hoped for.
I know that the software industry in general could benefit from several courses on software testing (and defensive programming for that matter) but this quite frankly ridiculous. Hope should not enter into the equation here, Nokia should have a bunch of hackers in a basement room somewhere whose only task it is to try and hack their own phones and so should everybody else.
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On underfunded projects, the first things to go are the last things in the development process. Documentation is #1. Testing is #2.
Reason number 532 (Score:3)
This is reason 532 why cellphones make lousy 2FA devices.
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And 'password' is something I know, but it too makes a lousy authenticator.