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I've lost count of the number of times I've heard someone say, "don't use biometrics because you can't change your fingerprints". That's an absurd statement...
by Johnny555 5y ago
I've lost count of the number of times I've heard someone say, "don't use biometrics because you can't change your fingerprints". That's an absurd statement... because you can. There are acids, blowtorches, belt sanders and the good old boxcutter, to name but a few approaches
None of those will change your fingerprints, they'll grow back unless you took off so much skin that your fingers are scarred and the prints won't grow back. Which doesn't really help with the supposed problem that if someone steals your fingerprints, you can't easily change them to another pattern.
My kids, for one. They're sneaky little buggers and I could envisage them observing my password as I type it into my PC. I can't, however, see them having the sophistication to lift a clean print off a glass, melt down a bunch of gummy bears and create a prosthetic that could fool the fingerprint reader on my PC.
I think it won't be too long until they can dust your fingerprints, take a picture of it, then have it 3d printed on a substrate that will fool a simple fingerprint scanner.
- raman162 5y agoIt's definitely a lot easier for anyone to create a fingerprint with today's technology and will get easier as time passes. I still think the author's main point stands, it's way easier for them to remember a pin that they observed and unlock your phone when you're not around versus the recreation of a "perfect" fingerprint
- ziml77 5y agoThis is why I hate if my phone decides I need to use my PIN to unlock it while I'm out. It's too easy to watch the PIN being entered. No one even has to be looking over my shoulder, it could be captured by a security camera.
- kjs3 5y agoSee: "fingerprint fuming". The tech has been around for decades, and doesn't require a 3d printer.
- paranoidrobot 5y ago> I think it won't be too long until they can dust your fingerprints, take a picture of it, then have it 3d printed on a substrate that will fool a simple fingerprint scanner. I'm struggling to find good references right at this moment - but I've seen reports/video of this being done using more basic means, years ago. But I may be misremembering details. It seems that it's already possible to produce usable fingerprints using a laser printer, printable transparencies (i.e for overhead projectors), and some glue. The idea is that you print the inverted fingerprint on a transparency. Because the transparency doesn't allow the toner to absorb in, it remains on the surface as a 3D structure. You then apply glue to that structure, and wait for it to cure. After it cures it can be removed and trimmed to fit your finger, and then applied to your finger. This apparently is reliable enough to fool basic fingerprint scanners, even ones with 'liveness' checks for conductivity/pulse because the glue is conductive and transparent enough for those basic checks. Examples of similar things: https://blog.lookout.com/why-i-hacked-apples-touchid-and-still-think-it-is-awesome https://blog.lookout.com/why-i-hacked-apples-touchid-and-sti... https://www.instructables.com/How-To-Fool-a-Fingerprint-Security-System-As-Easy-/ https://www.instructables.com/How-To-Fool-a-Fingerprint-Secu...
- snypher 5y agoThere was a defcon talk about 3d fingers https://3dprint.com/271540/d-defcon-fooling-biometric-sensors-using-3d-printed-fake-fingerprints/ https://3dprint.com/271540/d-defcon-fooling-biometric-sensor...
- paranoidrobot 5y agoYeah, but that's using 3D Printers to do it - the thing I'm thinking of was doing it using supplies in many homes and offices.
- mercora 5y agoyou might be thinking about this[0] written about 17 years ago [0] https://web.archive.org/web/20091008202313/http://www.ccc.de/biometrie/fingerabdruck_kopieren.xml?language=en https://web.archive.org/web/20091008202313/http://www.ccc.de...