HTC released their new phone; the One Max in October 2013

HTC’s security  has been evaluated, revealing flaws in their fingerprint encryption.  This was found out when several  experts from FireEye discovered that   decoding  fingerprint data was worryingly simple.

Fingerprint technology is becoming increasingly popular in smartphones for a variety of purposes.

HTC are believed to have discretely fixed the problem although no statement was made.

Although seeming trendy, fingerprint technology is not proving practical long term.

Once cyber attackers have access to the information, they can create a fake finger which can be used to hack personal phones/ handsets.

Storing fingerprints in the style of HTC (world readable format)  is not recognised as a safe way to store information.

Phone companies are strongly advised to thoroughly test the security of their products before releasing them.

HTC has received a lot of criticism but experts are concerned that other devices are also at risk. This is worrying for customer confidence as HTC may not  be the only brand of phone to be susceptible to cyber attacks.

Researchers advise that customers should constantly update their operating system to ensure maximum protection from such attacks.