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Security researcher: Thieves may chop off iPhone 5s owners’ fingertips to gain access

“Thieves have mutilated victims to gain access to phones equipped with a fingerprint reader, an expert has warned,” Katie Hodge reports for The Independent.

On Tuesday, “Apple launched its iPhone 5S, which includes the Touch ID feature, an integrated sensor on the device’s home button that reads your fingerprint in order to unlock your phone,” Hodge reports. “Marc Rogers said the sensors can provide a convenient way to unlock gadgets while also boosting security.”

Hodge reports, “But they have led criminals to commit increasingly brutal robberies and even chop off phone-owners’ fingertips, the chief researcher at mobile security firm Lookout claimed. ‘Thieves in some regions have worked out that you can force a victim to unlock a secured device, and in some extreme cases have also mutilated victims in order to steal their fingerprint.'”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: FUDtastic!

(We were waiting for this one. We’re surprised the good ol’ amputation threat FUD took this long.)

Related articles:
Apple’s iPhone 5S with biometric identification: Big Brother’s dream? – September 11, 2013
iPhone 5s: Once again Apple leaps ahead with Touch ID fingerprint recognition; a big enterprise win for Apple – September 10, 2013
Apple reveals flagship iPhone 5s with Touch ID, the world’s first and only 64-bit smartphone – September 10, 2013

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