While the Samsung Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note 10 comes with a high end ultrasonic under-display fingerprint sensor that is far more advanced that the regular fingerprint reader that you would find on budget or mid-range smartphones, it seemed that such wizardry in technology was easily overcome by a cheap hack that costs less than $5 - via a transparent silicone case that when placed over the display, will be able to "trick" the Galaxy S10 or Galaxy Note 10 into unlocking itself no matter the fingerprint used. This has definitely raised security concerns among users over the past few weeks, and it does seem that Samsung kept to their word by fixing this fingerprint recognition issue as soon as possible.
Apparently, the fingerprint recognition issue patch has been released in Samsung's home country at the moment, so anyone who is living outside of South Korea and are rocking to the Galaxy S10 and/or Galaxy Note 10 will simply have to wait for a while longer until additional details are revealed. Owners of either device can heave a sigh of relief, knowing that a software update is able to fix this. Assuming it was a hardware issue instead, that would have been harder for Samsung to explain, and it would be a major negative against the consumer electronics giant for those who are mulling over which current generation flagship smartphone to pick up.
Of course, Samsung did not apologise for this particular security issue, but instead took a different route by warning users that the use of third party or unauthorized screen protectors could result in such unwanted issues. Samsung's official support site pointed out that "unofficial, scratched or dirty screen protectors may cause the fingerprint sensor to malfunction."
It does seem as though Samsung is taking the easy route out, as the difference between "malfunction" and "allow anyone to get into your phone" is like night and day. In Asian culture, it is very important not to "lose face", and the closest possible term in English to describe that would be "pride".
According to Samsung's breakdown of this particular issue that shocked many people was the ultrasonic fingerprint being mistaken in recognizing 3-dimensional patterns appearing on certain silicone screen protecting cases as users' fingerprints. A temporary fix was recommended by Samsung at that point in time: to remove the unauthorized screen protector that was in use at that point in time, before going through the process of re-registering their prints once again. Alternatively, Samsung also recommended changing the authentication method to either a regular password, a PIN number or a pattern.
Well, at least the software fix is now available, and hopefully it is more than enough to bring an end to this fingerprint security issue. Having your new flagship device unlocked through a cheap hack is one thing, but the thought of giving someone the opportunity to take advantage of banking apps and performing unauthorized transactions is a total nightmare not only for the user, but for financial institutions as well. It is no surprise then that certain banks have already pulled their apps from the Google Play Store for the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note 10.
We will bring you the latest updates as new developments happen on the release of this software fix, so stay tuned.
