Corey Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 Fingerprint-reading software that comes pre-installed on laptops sold by Dell (DELL), Sony (SNE) and at least 14 other manufacturers has been independently confirmed to contain serious vulnerabilities. It has been discovered that hackers with physical control of select PCs can potentially access Windows account passwords. The vulnerability is found within multiple versions of fingerprint-reading software in the UPEK Protector Suite, which is marketed as a secure means of logging into Windows computers. In reality, the software actually makes Windows computers less secure compared to using a traditional password. When activated, the program stores Windows account passwords to the registry, however the encryption key is easy for hackers to retrieve and once acquired, it takes only seconds to decrypt the password. The UPEK Protector Suite was purchased by Authentec in 2010 and in July of this year Apple acquired Authentec for $356 million. The Cupertino-based company has yet to acknowledge the issue publicly. [Via Ars Technica] Read View the full article Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckun Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 That always seemed pretty obvious to me.. Although I think they're quite cool in their own way, it stands to reason that having some system store your password is less secure than just keeping it to yourself and typing it in.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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