A warning to all the selfie queens out there: you can be hacked!

Next time someone poses for a selfie with their fingers held up in a peace sign, maybe tell them to leave it at a smile.

An ordinary photo of the universal sign of goodwill might be enough for a thief to copy a fingerprint, thanks to the high quality of digital photos these days. And since Touch ID and similar technologies turn fingerprints into keys that unlock our devices and the data we keep in them, that’s cause for concern.

Just by casually making a peace sign in front of a camera, fingerprints can become widely available.

A team at the NII’s Digital Content and Media Sciences Research Division, Japan was able to reconstruct fingerprints spotted in pictures taken from up to 3 meters away.

“Fingerprint data can be re-created if fingerprints are in focus with strong lighting in a picture.” - Isao Echizen, a professor at Japan’s National Institute of Informatics

The peace sign is a common expression in social media pictures, but this technique could conceivably be applied to other common gestures like waving or giving a thumbs up. Matched with a person’s face, that makes for a significant amount of biometric data that identity thieves could do real damage with.

How Thieves Could Get Fingerprints From Selfies

The technique described by Echizen uses no special software, but does require good lighting - so for the moment you can feel free to flash whatever signs you like when the light is low. As mobile cameras become more and more powerful, though, selfies will become a bigger security liability.

The better alternative might be to make sure you aren’t relying on fingerprint security measures whenever possible. Or just avoid selfies altogether.

We never expected someone to hack the iPhone 5S fingerprint scanner....just kidding.

A group of hackers in Germany says it has found a way to bypass the fingerprint-sensor security system on the new iPhone 5S.

The hackers claim they fooled the Touch ID biometric security of the iPhone 5S by photographing a fingerprint left on a glass surface and using the resulting image to create a fake "finger" which unlocked the phone. They demonstrated their exploits in a video posted Sunday to YouTube.

 

"We hope that this finally puts to rest the illusions people have about fingerprint biometrics. It is plain stupid to use something that you can´t change and that you leave everywhere every day as a security token," said Frank Rieger, a spokesman for the group, the Chaos Computer Club, in a post online.

 

In the post, the hackers said they snapped a high-resolution photo of a fingerprint, inverted it and laser-printed it with extra toner onto a transparent sheet. Then they smeared pink latex milk or white woodglue into the fingerprint pattern, lifted a thin latex sheet from it and placed it onto the sensor to unlock the phone.

 

"As we have said now for ... years, fingerprints should not be used to secure anything. You leave them everywhere, and it is far too easy to make fake fingers out of lifted prints," said a hacker, who goes by the nickname Starbug, on the Chaos Computer Club's site.

 

The group may be rewarded for its efforts. A website has offered a bounty of cash and other prizes for the first person or group to successfully hack the Touch ID system on the phone.

 

The site, IsTouchIDHackedYet, was created by Nick DePetrillo, an independent computer security researcher known for demonstrating hacks of smartphones, and Robert David Graham, owner of Errata Security, a cybersecurity firm. It invites donors to contribute to the bounty, which so far includes an assortment of cash, bitcoins (a form of digital currency), several bottles of booze and "a dirty sex book."

 

The total cash bounty topped $16,000 at one point, although one donor has since reneged on a promised $10,000 donation, according to the site.

Source: CNN

Apple announces iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C, iOS 7 release date.

Apple unveiled an update to its popular smartphone on Tuesday at a press event at the company's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. The tech giant announced the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C -- two very different phones.

Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook started off by saying, "In the past, when we've launched a new iPhone, we lowered the cost of the old iPhone, making it more accessible to new people. But this year, we're not going to do that."

Instead, Apple introduced a lower-cost iPhone 5C alongside the iPhone 5S -- the company's flagship smartphone.

Apple senior vice president Phil Schiller took the stage to announce the iPhone 5C. The new device is made of plastic and has a 4-inch display. It has a hard-coated polycarbonate design, is steel reinforced and has a multi-band antenna. It comes in five colors: green, white, blue, pink, and yellow.

The iPhone 5C will cost $99 for a 16GB model or $199 for a 32 GB model, with contracts. A colorful variety of cases will cost $29. The iPhone 5C will go on sale on Sept. 20, with pre-orders starting on Sept. 13.

The iPhone 5S has a 4-inch display and comes in silver, gold and a color called space gray. The hardware has been upgraded to an A7 chip, and is the first smartphone to be 64-bits.

"The PC world made the transition from 32 bit to 64 bit and it took years. Today you're going to see that Apple is going to do it on one day," Schiller said.

Schiller says the iPhone 5S's CPU performs 40 times faster than the original iPhone. The new iPhone will also include a brand new chip called the M7, which is said to continuously measure motion data. The chip supports the accelerometer, gyroscope and compass.

Schiller says the iPhone 5S's battery life has improved, and will have 10 hours of LTE and Wi-Fi browsing, 40 hours of music and 250 hours of standby time.

The iPhone's camera is getting a major upgrade. Apple is increasing the pixels to 1.5u to capture more light. The camera will also autodetect white balance as soon as the app is launched, and include burst mode and true tone flash. It also features a new image stabilizer and slow-motion video.
Just as the rumors suggested, the new iPhone will include Touch ID -- a fingerprint sensor built into the home button. The sensor scans sub-epidermal skin layers and will have 360-degree readability. It is about 170 microns thin, with 500 ppi resolution. The fingerprint sensor can be used to unlock the iPhone or make purchases.

"Your fingerprint is one of the best passes in the world. It's always with you, and no two are exactly alike," Apple senior vice president Jony Ive said in a promotional video.

The iPhone 5S will come in three models: 16 GB for $199, 32GB for $299 and 64GB for $399, with a contract. The phone will go on sale on Sept. 20.

Apple also announced details of its completely redesigned mobile operating system, iOS 7, that will be ready for download on Sept. 18.

Source: CBShttp://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57602236/apple-announces-iphone-5s-iphone-5c-ios-7-release-date/