Not Good: Your touchscreen phone could give away your unlock code

Got greasy fingers? Use your phone a lot? Well as engadget has previously reported, and as shown through the image above, you could be giving thieves easy access to your smartphone and personal data through a simple method: fingerprints.

In particular, Android powered handsets are the most vulnerable as fingerprints or smudges leave their nine-dot lock patterns in the open, with iPhone users coming in second as the code to unlock an iPhone is four digits, or if you care about personal data, an actual ‘complicated password’ achievable through the settings panel.

The actual study on the ‘smudge attacks’ shows that even when your beloved smartphone has made clothing contact, or rubbed against the inside of your jeans, the marks to your password are still visible. The Apple iPhone 4′s glass display is the least prone to finger marks, due to its special coating, however if you have a screen protector on it then you are no better off than anybody else, unfortunately.