Monday, August 16, 2010

Android gets touchy



For the last decade everyone being has been raving about touchscreen technology. Personally I can't see it myself. Touching the screen just leads to it getting smudgy while accuracy is always an issue.
Now researchers have found that there are also security concerns. In fact passwords on your Android smartphones could be at risk because of the fingerprint trail.
Google's Android OS system requires users to swipe for access and this can cause "information leakage."
University of Pennsylvania scientists discovered that: "Oily residues, or smudges, remain on the screen as a side effect of touchscreen technology."
The researchers were able to partly guess the passcode of an Android smartphone 92% of the time and completely guess it 68% of the time. They did so using photo-editing software, lighting and a camera, which are all easily accessible to your average criminal.
Furthermore this is not the only vulnerability that the Android smartphone might have as a result of its touchscreen sign in.
The iPhone does not suffer from the same problem as users lift up their finger between each press.
In response Google said the Android 2.2 Froyo OS will include the option of an alphanumeric password instead of the finger swipe.

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