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Hacker can get cell phone passwords from selfies

Posted at 10:32 AM, Oct 23, 2015
and last updated 2015-10-23 11:23:10-04

Hackers can get your cell phone passcode simply by looking at your selfies.

A member of a German group called Chaos Computer Club, identified only as "Starbug," showed a cyber security conference audience how to look at fingerprints on a smartphone when the phone's screen is reflected in the eyeballs of someone taking a selfie.

Fingerprints can be recreated from the reflection, and the pattern in which they are most often used (the passcode to unlock the user's phone) can be quickly determined, Starbug said.

Starbug made the explanation as part of a challenge issued by a group called "Is Touch ID Hacked Yet?" He won the challenge and was awarded a payment in bitcoins, according to The Blaze.