Thermal heat imaging cameras can capture your phone’s secret PIN

[McFurd]

Clark Howard - 3/13/2017 - Theo Thimou - Thermal image cameras are a new frontier for criminals. German researchers have demonstrated how sophisticated criminals can use thermal imaging cameras to stealthily steal your PIN and gain access to your phone in just seconds flat. Here's the story: When you touch your phone's screen, your fingers leave behind a heat trace. That trace is invisible to the naked eye, but it can be easily seen by a thermal camera like the one used here. "Because heat decays at a known rate, a person typing in a PIN with four different digits would leave behind four heat traces of slightly different temperatures: The first digit entered would be coolest, and the last digit would be warmest," the Atlantic reports. "If a thermal image contains only three or two heat traces, the attacker can infer that the PIN contains at least one digit more than once. The phone’s exact PIN...can be guessed in three or fewer tries. And if there’s only one heat trace, the attacker knows the PIN is just one digit repeated four times." Read more @ http://www.clark.com/thermal-heat-image-cameras-capture