Millions of consumers use the fingerprint sensor to unlock their smartphone. It is most probably used for security purpose. But it is not safe as you think. According to the report that researchers at New York University and Michigan State University developed fake digital fingerprints. Due to the Digital prints, the team was able to get matches 26 -65 percent of the time in their simulation. But the invention is less successful in the real world.
The fingerprint sensor itself doesn’t work, but it’s clearly not a hardware problem, Even deleting fingerprints and trying to add new ones doesn’t work, which rules out some kind of issue with the stock launcher software. Nasir Memon, a computer Scientist at NYU's Tandon School of Engineering who deal with the digital trends, "If they had a master print that maximized their probability of success, they may be able to get through a device’s fingerprint system.”
The MasterPrint concept bears some similarity to a hacker who attempts to crack a PIN-based system using a commonly adopted password such as 1234, explained lead study author Nasir Memon from New York University Tandon School. "About 4% of the time, 1234 password will be correct, which is a high probability when you are just guessing," said Memon
Around 40-50 percent of iPhones could be accessed within the 5 tries allowed before the password prompt pops up.
Memon said that the issue drops as you have only fewer prints included on your mobile, where more prints stored means more snapshots and more potential matches. This work is still Hypothetical.