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Comment by goldcd | Hacker News Reader

I know this issue is going to be 'solved' with the next software update... ..but can't help but feel if you're trying to hide access to your phone from somebody who:

1) Can pick up your phone 2) Wants to access your phone 3) Has access to you and your phone as you sleep 4) You don't want to have access to your phone

Bluntly - awaiting an Android update is the least of your problems if you hit the criteria above.

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Or stepping back a bit to all those phones with fingerprint-readers (i.e. previous pixels and most phones out there)

DID YOU KNOW YOUR FINGERPRINTS EXIST WHILST YOU SLEEP?!?!?!!

I'm now considering quitting my job to create lockable-kevlar-mittens the people can don, to ensure your biometrics are safe as you sleep.

Why would you downvote this?

Seems reasonable to raise the fact your suspicious sleeping-partner could press your digit to your phone, if they wanted access.

I know we all like a good story, but just taking pixels, I'm unsure how this issue makes your phone less secure than the last one.

It's presumably a bit more accessible to use face unlock on a sleeping person since it involves no physical contact. Pressing someone's finger on the reader has a higher (probably still small) chance of waking that person up.

Well... yeah. There are definitely people with big problems in this world. They can’t trust the people around them. They are trapped in bad situations.

Those people will literally be able to rest easier when this problem is solved.

How do you know this issue is going to be 'solved' in a future software update?

Google never actually promised this. From The Verge:

> When reached by The Verge, Google didn’t say one way or the other whether this added layer of security is definitely coming. “We don’t have anything specific to announce regarding future features or timing, but like most of our products, this feature is designed to get better over time with future software updates,” a spokesperson said by email.

I've no idea, but there's the leaked settings screens that have an "attention" (i.e. eyes open) requirement (like IOS).

Maybe it'll be released, maybe it won't - but we know it's possible and I can't think of a reason google wouldn't add it.

Doesn’t this describe most students with roommates, or teens with siblings, or parents with children, or people who doze off on public transport, or...? The plausible scenarios seem pretty much endless.

To give concrete examples of "parents with children":

6-year old "Child uses sleeping mom's fingerprints to buy Pokemon gifts" - https://www.cnet.com/news/child-uses-sleeping-moms-fingerpri...

"How A Clever 7-Year-Old Boy Bypassed Touch ID On iPhone 6 Plus" - https://www.redmondpie.com/how-a-clever-7-year-old-boy-bypas...

Maybe I had a heavy lunch and dozed off at my desk? Or fell asleep at the beach/pool/park, or any number of plausible scenarios that don't involve living with a crazy person.

These aren't super common situations but they do happen, and a security flaw like this can be the difference between someone stealing an electronic brick and someone making off with corporate secrets and customer PII (if it's a work phone).

>somebody who:1) Can pick up your phone 2) Wants to access your phone 3) Has access to you and your phone as you sleep 4) You don't want to have access to your phone

>awaiting Android update is the least of your problems if you hit the criteria above.

I am waiting for that Android update, because I have teenage kids

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