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Microsoft’s Windows Hello fingerprint authentication has been bypassed - The Verge
(www.theverge.com)
this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2023
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It’s device manufacturers that are fucking up, not MS.
Pretty much everybody pushing fingerprints as a sensible thing for accessing a device is fucking up. It is way too easy to obtain a persons fingerprints suitable for device unlocking without them knowing - and that's ignoring that using fingerprints enables device unlocking with a persons finger against their will.
That’s why devices need something like Apple does that disables biometrics with specific button clicks
All android devices have a lockdown function that disables all but password unlock and hides all info from the lockscreen (notifications).
Anoyingly it's disabled by default though, you have to explicitly enable it in lockscreen settings, then activate it from the power off menu.
Lockdown doesn't require password unless your device settings require password -- it normally just kicks it back to requiring pin. Which is still quite secure. I don't know what you mean saying it is disabled by default -- it is available by default if you long press the power button and click Lockdown.
Even better is to reboot the device. Then it will be in lockdown mode -- pin required -- and also encrypted awaiting the pin. A modern device fresh from a restart should be quite hard indeed to crack without some alternate access to the person's Google account.
In my experience, the 'show lockdown option' is off by default. You have to enable it in settings before you can use it.
Requiring a pin on startup used to be the same, but it's not even an option anymore, it's just on.
I was also refering to pin/pattern lock as your password for android, perhaps not the best wording.
Interesting. Apple you just hold volume up and lock and it disables biometrics. It’s like that by default
...
So... MS is not MS? Is that the logic we're going for now?
No, as stated in the article, it’s the sensor manufacturers that are not properly implementing the security protocol.
So you think that somehow absolves Microsoft how?
It isn’t MS’s screwup. They didn’t build the sensor.
They didn't build the sensor, but they sourced and implemented it in their product. Part of selling products is getting your parts from reputable locations that are building their parts to your specification. This is absolutely still MS's screwup. And if MS can't build a device to implement their "security" standard properly. Then you cannot assume that ANY manufacturer can do it properly.
Did you actually read the article?
Yes.
So microsoft made a standard... and it doesn't cover the full scope of usage of these devices... Including their own surface pro x and thus can be abused. It's almost like both the sensor choice, and the software is flawed.
It's becoming apparent that you and all the other downvoters are just windows fanbois.
Also
So they recommend to enable this protocol... simply because it's better overall... But the third device was still vulnerable!
But yeah... I'm the one with reading comprehension problems. Totally.
Edit: You also still failed to articulate how this absolves MS from anything. They created the standard. They can't choose sensors that use it properly? So either MS is ignorant, or willfully breaking their own standard. Care to actually address how MS isn't at fault still?