Etymology

smudge attack

smudge at·tack

Today it means: A method used to crack the password of a touchscreen device by analysing the oily smears left on the device's screen by the user's fingers. Full definition →

First used 2010.
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The story

smudge + attack; coined in 2010 by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Computer and Information Science in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA: see the quotation.

First known use, by meaning

  • from 2010. A method used to crack the password of a touchscreen device by analysing the oily smears left on the device's screen by the user's fingers.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.