Sunday 22 September 2013

Hack the iPhone 5S fingerprint scanner and get over $15,000, alcohol

A crowdfunding campaign started on Twitter is now offering over $15,000 (and a myriad of other things) to hackers who are able to hack an iPhone 5S’s Touch ID fingerprint scanner and offer proof of the hack. The campaign initiated on Twitter by Nick DePetrillo, a security researcher, started off with a promise of $100 to the successful hacker, but soon that amount was increased due to many more individuals adding to the pool, including IO Capital, a start-up venture fund, which added $10,000.
According to DePetrillo the hacker/s will need to lift a user’s fingerprint off the screen of the iPhone 5S and use it to unlock the phone in less than five tries. As proof, the hacker will need to create a video depicting the entire process- from the point of lifting the fingerprint, right up to using it to unlock the iPhone 5S. Anyone wanting to contribute to the campaign have been advised to tweet their amounts with the #istouchidhackedyet hash tag, with $50 being the minimum amount. So far, these contributions have ranged from mundane cash amounts to more exotic things like bottles of whiskey and wine, Bitcoins, ‘dirty sex books’, free patent applications covering the hack and even an iPhone 5C.  

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