A new study has revealed just how easy it is for hackers to use the sensors in mobile devices to crack four-digit PINs and to access a wide variety of other information about users. Cyber-security experts from Newcastle University in the U.K. found that once a mobile user visits a website, code embedded on the page could then use the phone's motion and orientation sensors to correctly guess the users' PIN. (Getty Images)Examples of these include the accelerometer and gyroscope sensors that enable the fitness-tracking apps so popular with cellphone users. She and her colleagues mimicked what's known as a "side channel attack" on Android mobile phones using a website embedded with JavaScript code. Interviews with around 100 mobile users found that most people are not aware of the sensors on their mobile devices, said Mehrnezhad, and that there is "significant disparity" between the actual risk and perceived risk of having a compromised PIN.

Source: CBC News April 12, 2017 21:33 UTC