What you need to know

  • If your Galaxy S10 or Note 10 had certain types of screen protectors installed, it could have been vulnerable to a bug that allowed anyone to unlock your phone.
  • Some banks in Korea and the U.K. had even barred their users from logging in via the Samsung-made phones.
  • The company has begun rolling out a fix to users in Korea, with other countries to follow soon.

Samsung's Galaxy S10 and Note 10 series made quite a splash in the smartphone world last week, thanks to a massive flaw in the phones' biometric authentication systems that allowed anyone to unlock your phone if you had a silicon screen protector installed.

Thankfully, the company has abided by its promise to issue a fix within the week and is now rolling out an update to all affected phones in Korea. The company is also cautioning users to delete all their previous fingerprints from the phone once the update has been installed and to re-map their fingerprints onto the phone with the screen protector removed.

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The company explains the problem as follows: "If you've used a screen cover, such as silicone cover with a textured surface on the inside, the texture itself may be recognized as a fingerprint that can unlock your phone."

While the fix is currently exclusive to Korea, the company will likely be rolling it out worldwide soon. But not soon enough, as multiple banks in the U.K. had already begun blacklisting S10 and Note 10 devices from accessing their apps last week due to the inherent security risks resulting from such a comprehensive failure of biometric authentication.

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