Posted on 05/17/2002 1:11:28 PM PDT by rwb
Fake fingers made out of common household ingredients can fool security systems that use fingerprints to identify people.
The artificial fingers and prints were created with gelatine by Japanese researchers who used the digits to get trick biometric systems into thinking they were seeing the real thing.
Not only was it possible to fool the security systems with casts of fingers, the researchers found they could make convincing fakes using fingerprints lifted from glass.
Experts say the experiments cast serious doubt on any claims that this type of biometric system can be made fully secure.
'Impressive work'
The work was done by engineering professor Tsutomu Matsumoto and his colleagues at the Graduate School of Environment and Information Sciences at the University of Yokohama.
The first set of experiments used fake fingers formed when gelatine was poured into a mould created by pushing a finger into a malleable plastic more often used by model makers.
The fingers created this way fooled the fingerprint readers 80% of the time.
Making the fingers took only a few minutes and used raw materials that cost less than £10. The researchers also developed a way to create fake fingers using prints left on glass.
First, the latent print was hardened using glue that sticks to the ridges of bodily detritus, such as sweat and skin cells, left behind when a finger touches a hardened surface.
'Impressive' work
This improved print was photographed using a digital camera and was then enhanced using Adobe Photoshop software to emphasise the difference between its ridges and gaps.
The image was transferred to a photosensitive sheet, etched into copper to turn it from a flat image into a three-dimensional print, and then used to create another mould.
Again the fake fingers fooled the biometric readers 80% of the time.
Security expert Bruce Schneier wrote of Dr Matsumoto's work: "Impressive is an understatement."
He said the fact the systems were fooled using easily available ingredients should be enough to end the use of fingerprint-based security systems.
"If he could do this, then any semi-professional can almost certainly do much, much more." wrote Mr Schneier.
Dr Matsumoto and his colleagues first presented their work in January at the Electronic Imaging 2002 conference organised by the International Society for Optical Engineering.
I guess nothing's more secure than a 'mark of the beast' chip insert, for ID purposes. </sarcasm off
thanks for posting this...
MI was on the cutting edge of spynology.
... or true anarchists.
Iris scan readers can also flash a light and measure how the pupil diameter changes in response.
And you are right, ten bucks to fool a million dollar machine.
Yep, pulse & temperature are more difficult to include in the fake. My question is, what are these readers being used to protect?
Per the iris readers, that I don't like. Something goes wrong and my eyesight is harmed? Nope, not acceptable.
Note that this applies to the iris-scanning biometric readers, which are typically feet from the eye. Perhaps you are thinking of retinal-scan readers, which scan the patterns in the back of the eyeball and require that the subject place his eye close to the reader.
I still don't like the eye scan approach, don't want anything used that requires access to my eyes in any manner. Fingerprints I have no problem with.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.