In the past few years, smartphone makers have introduced many different advanced features to help users secure their devices better. Features like fingerprint readers, face mapping, and even sensors that map out the blood veins in the palm of your hand have all been implemented to that end. However, ways have been discovered to get around such measures and most recently, a user found a way to trick the in-display fingerprint reader on his Samsung Galaxy S10 with a 3D print of his fingerprint.
Imgur user darkshark published a post on the network in which he outlined his project. In the post, he first of all, took a photo of a fingerprint on a wineglass. Next, he processed the photo in Photoshop and used 3ds Max to make a model which allowed him to extrude the lines in the picture into a 3D version. After a 13-minute print (and three attempts with some tweaks), he was able to print out a version of his fingerprint which was able to trick the phone’s fingerprint sensor.
The fingerprint sensor on the Samsung Galaxy S10 does not rely on a capacitive fingerprint scanner which is used on the Samsung Galaxy S9 and other previous versions of the phone. Instead, the phone comes with an ultrasonic sensor that’s apparently more difficult to fool.
According to darkshark, it didn’t take much to spoof his own fingerprint. A concern, he notes, is that payment and banking apps are increasingly using the authentication from a fingerprint sensor to unlock, and all he needed to unlock his phone was a photograph, some software, and access to a 3D printer. He wrote, “I can do this entire process in less than 3 minutes and remotely start the 3d print so that it’s done by the time I get to it,”
Of course, this isn’t the first time that someone has figured out how to get into a phone via its sensors. In 2016, Police officers used a 3D printer to get into the phone of a murder victim, while a cybersecurity firm used a $150 face mask beat Apple’s FaceID on an iPhone X in 2024.
