Galaxy Note 7 Iris Scanner Explained (androidauthority.com) 77
An anonymous reader writes from a report via Android Authority: The Galaxy Note 7 was just announced and one of the most intriguing features is its iris scanner. Android Authority has a report explaining how it works: "According to the company, the device stores your registered iris information as an encrypted code safely in its hardware using its KNOX security platform. Whenever you want to access content, such as a protected app, the device first captures your iris pattern for recognition, extracts and digitizes it, and then proceeds to match it with the encrypted code to provide access. You can be sure that no one else apart from you can access your device in case it is stolen or lost because the Note 7 registers the iris information of only one person. Samsung has made all this possible by including a dedicated iris camera for recognizing the composition of the user's eyeballs. The dedicated iris camera uses a special image filter to receive and recognize the reflected images of the irises through an infrared light on the other end of that panel. The light emitted from the Galaxy Note 7's display allows the scanner to receive data even in low light environments." The iris scanner can be used to access private information via Samsung's Secure Folder feature. Samsung also plans to partner with major financial institutions to incorporate its iris scanner into mobile banking applications.
sunglasses, contacts, allergies oh my! (Score:2)
password fallback? (Score:4, Insightful)
Don't worry, you'll probably be able to fall back to using your secure password.
You know, the thing that look like base64-encodednoise from /dev/random... that you've completely forgotten about because you've always used the iris function right up until the bd conjunctivitis that started this morning.
Or the long password which is basically just two words followed by a number and even a "!" For good measure (hey, they asked to use a special). You know it's a good one because the 3 websites where you use it showed you a green bar in their security meter.
(What you don't know, is that 2 of these website got their DB hacked, they only used salted SHA-1 (hey, but it's salted) and your password is among the 75% of the million hash leak that got bruteforced within the first 2 days, because it's such a common pattern)
Re:password fallback? (Score:4, Interesting)
Just write your password down and keep it at home somewhere. If someone steals your phone, even the cops, they won't have that password. If you are really paranoid you can destroy it later.
Or keep it in your password manager.
Well... (Score:2)
Just write your password down and keep it at home somewhere.
Which is 100% guaranteed to be the exact place you'll be when the allergy kicks-in (doktor's tip: usually most of the seasonal allergies happen outdoor. There are very few allergen that vary seasonally found indoor) or any of the other problems that can render your iris suddenly unusable.
Or keep it in your password manager.
I just hope for you that yours isn't *in* said protected smartphone (though it's a good choice: it's something that you carry around)
But on your laptop. Or securely synced over the cloud to most of your computers.
If someone steals your phone, even the cops, they won't have that password.
No, but bo
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Photo of iris? (Score:2)
So how does a photo of an iris not defeat this? Selfies!
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If it's a capture in the IR, then a selfie - or any common photograph - may not contain all the information necessary to verify the user. Just as Intel's Hello feature is not fooled by photos of the user.
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wink wink
That was exactly my thought, since I have worn glasses since the third grade.
I would hate to have to raise my glasses everytime I wanted to unlock my phone. Conversely, my fingers are almost always uncovered.
Re:Can't wait... (Score:4, Informative)
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until Apple invents this technology and releases the first smartphone with an iris scanner in 2018
If you are referring to a company copying another's invention, I think that Samsung already won the "prize" [cnn.com] for that...
I think I saw that movie (Score:2)
Evil villain lances President Trump's left eye using a barbecue fork then detonates nuclear arsenal using iris scan.
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You need to cleanly scoop around the eyeball,
Making sure that you don't get the eyeball and the brain mixed up.
Who cares? I'm sure the person with a spoon-removed eye would rather be dead anyway.
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I know you're joking, but iris scanners don't work with dead eyes, since the pupil dilates and the iris gets much smaller. Retina scanners still work with eyeballs on barbecue forks, not iris scanners.
I learned this from a friend who worked at an iris scanning company, so take it for what it's worth.
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I have a friend that works at a barbecue fork company and he said that their forks work reliably well for both iris and retina scans, as well as those tasty cocktail sausages and meatballs in bbq sauce.
Take that for what it's worth.
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Do not stare into iris scanner (Score:1)
With remaining eye.
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Considering how dry beanpoppa's response was, you sound like you wrote your comment after sitting on a nest of fire ants. He was right - you don't have to use the scanner (or the fingerprint reader, or pattern lock, etc) and you could use the fallback of a password anyway. The comment he replied to didn't come across as a joke in any way so you losing it complaining about someone else losing it was not your smartest move.
Re:No Sharing Allowed (Score:4, Informative)
With the fingerprint scanner, you can add multiple fingerprints. This can be useful for reading the same finger in a different orientation, recording fingerprints from both thumbs, or letting multiple people unlock the same phone. There's no technical reason that they couldn't do the same with the iris scanner.
In my case, I like to let my wife unlock my phone so that she can handle it if someone texts me while I'm driving (or other similar situations). I'm sure lots of other people have legitimate reasons for wanting to have multiple people easily unlock the same phone.
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Back in the day, everyone who didn't live alone shared their phones with their families.
Used to be, a phone number meant a home or office. Now it means someone's ass pocket.
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So instead of having a shared family phone, we'd have to buy one for every member. Great for Samsung, but bad for me, so then bad for Samsung.
I thought that was a pretty stupid move, too.
Really? (Score:2)
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As opposed to you who fucks actual sheep?
Too slow (Score:2)
Contrary to the reviews I'm seeing it's a winner (Score:2)
I still wish it had a 7500 battery but I'll take it. It at least has an SD card slot. I still will wait 6 months for the price drop. But it beats the 4 finally.
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I can't believe that Zerolemon won't have a battery case that will last several days within a month or two of release. Replaceable batteries are nice, but portable chargers are getting more common and more compact, and with those you don't have to completely shut the phone down and reboot to swap in a new battery. That's one of the things LG definitely got wrong with their G5 battery - a 20mAh internal cell to allow "hot-swapping" would have been a killer feature.
too much noise (Score:2)
the article reads like a barely disguised, PR buzzword filled press release:
"the device first captures your iris pattern for recognition, extracts and digitizes it, and then proceeds to match it with the encrypted code to provide access."
maybe the technology is interesting, but i wouldn't wager on it based on anything with this level of buzznoise-to-content ratio.
Does it pass the Simon Phoenix test? (Score:2)
That is, does it require a live eyeball that has not been forcibly removed from its socket?
Re:Does it pass the Simon Phoenix test? (Score:5, Interesting)
That is, does it require a live eyeball that has not been forcibly removed from its socket?
"Research has shown that post-mortem eyes can be used for biometric identification for hours or days after death, despite the decay that occurs" [slashdot.org]
Although I suspect that if you are missing an eye or just plain dead, your phones security is probably the last of your worries
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The key here is that if a disembodied eyeball or corpse can be used, it creates an incentive to kill or mutilate someone with sufficiently important info on their phone. So even while that person is alive and well, this phone adds to their worries.
Even if you don't use the feature, an attacker might assume you do. Even if your phone doesn't have the feature, an attacker might try it anyway. Thanks, Samsung (et al).
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Screw having to try and pass a law that requires people to scan their eyes and have them documented, we'll just include them on phones and people will use them as a cool feature!
I'm sure in their terms of use they're allowed to store your retina scan, but promise not to do even with it, even though nothing legally stops them.
Exactly.
Remember, this is the same company that thought it was a great idea to have your TV spy on your household 24/7 JUST like in "1984", then send all that data to the Ministry of Truth (a/k/a Samsung).
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So my galaxy 7 doesn't have the iris scanner. So Now I must take it out on the driveway and stomp on it and go spend another 650 enslave myself to another 2 year contract so I can have the Iris scanner. March on Consumer Bot to the land of planned obsolescence. I don't think I'll drink the kool-aid anymore.
Remember, this is the company that created over FIFTY "new" phone models in ONE YEAR, FFS!!!
So, just wait another few microseconds, and it will be superceded with an even more newer-est model...
Introducing Semen and Vaginal Fluid Unlock (Score:4, Funny)
New Brief: New technology developments from FoneLock allows uses to unlock their phones with their body fluids. For the first time you can use a very personal way of securing your cellphone. Note: fluid test results may be uploaded and shared with our advertising partners on unpatched insecure servers and notebook computers left at drinking establishments.
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Compelling... (Score:1)