If cats have "universal fingerprints", is your phone still safe?

Since the iPhone 5s introduced fingerprint recognition, all kinds of smart devices have started the trend of fingerprint recognition. Now, even software has enabled fingerprint encryption. But is fingerprint recognition really safe?

Researchers from New York University and Michigan State University conducted a test to create "MasterPrints" using certain common features of human fingerprints. Such fake fingerprints can fool mobile phone fingerprint sensors with a success rate of 65%. The culprit for this security risk is, of course, the fingerprint sensor with a small recognition area. They can only scan and read partial features of the complete fingerprint, and usually need to adjust the hand posture and enter multiple times, so the chance of matching errors is greatly increased.

It should be pointed out that the above experiment does not mean that fingerprint recognition technology is unsafe. In fact, human fingerprints are difficult to forge, but the biometric authentication process of smartphones is similar to "blind men touching an elephant". Such a small sensor cannot provide high-level protection. Apple responded that the probability of false fingerprint matching in Touch ID is only 1/50,000. During the development process, it tested many different attack methods and introduced other security features. Google declined to comment.