If you are a parent and an Android phone user, you probably already know that cracking the lock pattern on these smart devices is a child’s play really. Children as young as three can crack the lock pattern on your phone by simply following your finger movements. True story! If that’s not an indicator enough on how secure your smartphone is with a pattern lock, a new research carried out by Lancaster University, Northwest University in China, and the University of Bath, has revealed that hackers can crack pattern lock in as few as five attempts by using a combination of a video and a computer vision algorithm software.
The Pattern Screen Lock
A majority of Android users, which account from a few million people across the world, use the pattern lock to secure their smart devices. The lock pattern interface uses a square, three by three, grid comprising nine dots across which you can draw a unique pattern of your choice to secure an Android device. Five consecutive failed attempts at tracing the pattern registered on your device leads to a temporary lockdown. However, hackers don’t need five attempts to successfully trace a device’s lock pattern.
The Smart Hack
A video filming device and vision algorithm software is all that’s required to unlock an Android device. A hacker may covertly film you while drawing the pattern to unlock your device. The vision algorithm software then tracks the fingertip movement and throws up suggestions for a few possible patterns to access the Android device, making it easy for an absolute stranger to unlock your device as soon as they have access to it. The video can be recorded from 2.5 meters away with a mobile camera and up to 9 meters away with a DSLR. The researched tested this hack on 120 unique patterns taken from 215 users and posted a 95 percent success rate.
Complex Patterns Are First to Fall
Ironically, the more complex a pattern, the easier it is to crack, as the vision algorithm throws up more precise suggestions for complex finger movements.
The Alternative
Given that our smart devices are a gold mine of sensitive information – from personal photos to emails and banking apps – this finding highlights the pressing need for a more secure ways to lock your device. This can be done by switching to more complex numeric codes, finger print scans or iris scans.
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