Three banks in the UK have opted to suspend mobile their mobile banking apps for clients who use a Samsung S10 device.
The decision is motivated by a security issue linked to the fingerprint sensor present on the device. In the case of the apps, the feature is used to login and authorize transactions made within the app. Two of the banks decided to pull their apps from the Google Play Store for customers who have an S10 device.
It is not surprising that many people decided to contact customer support to find out why the apps no longer work on their devices. They are not the only ones who are facing problems, as several sources claim that Israeli banks have also decided to disable the fingerprint authentication feature.
According to a post on a popular messaging platform, a customer in the U.S. received a message from the bank which mentioned that Samsung Pay could not be used for ATM operations. At this point it is not clear if this was an issue related to the bank or a technical bug, but users can approve Samsung Pay transactions by using their fingerprint.
Fingerprint shenanigans
One week ago, a British couple observed that their Samsung Galaxy S10 could be unlocked by using a different fingerprint instead of the one which was approved. A few experiments showed that the issue was caused by the silicone case, which covered the screen of the device. The issue surfaced again when the same case was used on a different device.
Samsung has stated that the issue is present among Galaxy Note 10/10+ and the entire S10 range. The problem stems from the fact that the ultrasonic scanner will detect the 3D pattern of the protective case instead of the fingertip of the user.
A new software update should fix the problem in a few days.
