Samsung says it's fixed its fingerprint scan snafu

Samsung users can relax: A bug that let non-owners unlock Galaxy and Note devices with their fingerprint has reportedly been fixed.

Last week, Samsung confirmed reports that cheap silicon cases, which covered the fronts and backs of the phones in question, were messing with the devices' fingerprint sensors, allowing incorrect fingerprints to unlock some biometrically secured Galaxy and Note devices.

Wednesday, Samsung announced that it had rolled out a software update to fix the bug. Now, even with a silicon case, only the fingerprint of the owner will be able to unlock the phone. Phew!

The Sun originally reported that a woman's husband realized he could unlock his wife's phone with his fingerprint — even though only his wife's fingerprint was the designated key. The problem, apparently, was a pattern on silicon cases that confused the fingerprint reader. Affected devices were the Galaxy Note10/10+ and S10/S10+/S10 5G.

Samsung quickly confirmed the issue, and said it would shortly roll out a fix. Now, that time has come. Still, the whole debacle is a good reminder that using biometric data as a form of device security is inherently riskier than the passcode standby that never really needed to be replaced at all.