Over the weekend, Starbug of the Chaos Computer Club has successfully attacked the Apple Touch ID sensor on the iPhone 5s approximately 24 hours after the phone was released in Germany. Starbug’s successful attack won the IsTouchIDHackedYet.com competition and he is giving the challenge pledge funds to Raumfahrtagentur, a spinoff from CCC-Berlin.
The full fingerprint emulation process has now been detailed in a new video from CCC member Starbug and replicated by security expert Marc Rogers, who believes the average consumer has nothing to worry about.
While Starbug suggests that the hack is “very easy” and can be completed with “inexpensive office equipment like an image scanner, a laser printer, and a kit for etching PCBs,” Marc Rogers, who also completed the bypass, disagrees, noting that it requires “over a thousand dollars worth of equipment.”
But, the reality is these flaws are not something that the average consumer should worry about. Why? Because exploiting them was anything but trivial.
Hacking TouchID relies upon a combination of skills, existing academic research and the patience of a Crime Scene Technician.
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