“U.S. Sen. Al Franken is raising questions about the security of Samsung’s Galaxy S5 smartphone in the wake of reports that its fingerprint scanner has been hacked,” Dawn Chmielewski reports for Re/code.
“In a letter to the South Korean electronics giant, the Minnesota Democrat expressed concern about the apparent security vulnerability and Samsung’s use of fingerprint technology beyond granting access to the device — such as sending money through PayPal,” Chmielewski reports. “‘I am concerned by reports that Samsung’s fingerprint scanner may not be as secure as it may seem — and those security gaps might create broader security problems on the S5 smartphone,’ Franken wrote. ‘I am writing to request information on how Samsung is addressing these and other privacy questions.'”
“Unlike the [Apple’s Touch ID] product, Samsung allows for unlimited attempts to access the device without requiring a password and permits the broad use of the fingerprint scanner to access apps. This, he notes, invites abuse by ‘bad actors,'” Chmielewski reports. “Franken posed more than a dozen questions to Samsung…”
Read more in the full article here.
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