Smartphone security is one of the biggest headaches any Android user faces. And we’re not just talking about using antiviruses and other tools to prevent hacks here, but about a basic security feature for any phone: the lock screen. Most of us unlock the screen with the dot pattern that’s gotten so fashionable on Android. What happens is that this unlock system is not secure and super simple to guess.
A recent study done by universities in the UK and China has determined that the unlock pattern is very easy to discover. To resolve this question they used an interesting methodology: video recordings taken at a max distance of nine meters to discover the unlock pattern of smartphones by the movements of the hand and arm. And worst of all is that the result of the study couldn’t be more worrying: the pattern can be detected some 95% of the time with a max number of five attempts.
One of the most curious curious findings of this study is that the more complicated the pattern used, the simpler it is to figure out. This is because the more moves the camera can detect, the easier it is for the algorithm used by the program to determine the position of the different points on the phone screen. This data certainly contradicts everything we’d believed up to this point, but it’s the conclusion they’ve come to after testing out 120 different unlock patterns from 215 users.
This study doesn’t aim to raise any sort of alarm – we’re just telling you about a scientific fact. Luckily, the Android ecosystem is full of alternatives and we’ve picked a few device lock apps for you that are not only based on unlock patterns. You can never get too secure, can you?
Locker Master – Download APK
FaceLock for apps – Download APK
ZUI Locker – Download APK
More info | Cracking Android Pattern Lock in Five Attempts
