Smartphone PINs Can be retrieved in SECONDS Via thermal cameras:Android users at risk

A thermal-imaging camera would easily be able to get your phone's pass code from the heat marks left on the screen, researchers have said.

Heat traces transferred from a user's hand to the screen while typing in you PIN could be the giveaway, a paper by four researchers at Stuttgart University says.

The traces are recovered and used to reconstruct the password - even up to 30 seconds after the device was last touched, The Atlantic reports

According to MIRROR, someone typing in a PIN number with four different digits would unknowingly leave behind four heat traces, each slightly different temperatures


The researchers came up with a six step plan of extracting PIN numbers.

A thermal camera set to capture temperatures between about 66 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit takes a picture of the screen.


Software can then convert the color image to grayscale and applies a filter.

After that, the background is removed entirely, leaving just the heat traces.

These can then be detected and extracted and for a PIN, this will result in one to four circles.



Accoding to MIRROR,The success rate of this thermal cameras have been high

ADVISE FROM ENADENUGA BLOG:

° Try to clean the screen of your phone each day to remove traces of your pin or pattern drawn by your hand....

°If you have a fingerprint enabled phone, use it preferably..

SOURCE: MIRROR