Fingerprint Biometric Security Can Be Bypassed Using High Resolution Pictures
Security experts agree that mainstream biometric security relying on static information such as fingerprints and face recognition are difficult to forge. However, they agree that the right person with the right equipment can certainly fake them, and bypass such security measures with ease.
This was proven by a German hacker, Jan Krissler, aka ‘Starbug’ who easily faked the fingerprint of German defense minister. He did this as a demonstration on just how easy it is to bypass biometric fingerprint security. The even more interesting part is that he was able to achieve this using commercially available software and a few high-resolution pictures of the minister’s one hand.
He told Chaos Computer Club (CCC) conference, “After this talk, politicians will presumably wear gloves when talking in public.”
Starbug took a picture of the minister’s thumb from a distance of about three meters, including other pictures of her thumb taken previously and used a commercially available software called Verifinger and recreated the print.
You might remember Starbug from another biometric security controversy with Apple. Just barely 48 hours after Apple released its Apple’s Touch ID, Starbug was reported having successfully circumvented the Apple’s Touch ID security system.
The CCC convention organizer responded to this on their website by writing, “in the past, it was successfully demonstrated a number of times how easily fingerprints can be stolen from (their) owner if a person touched any object with a polished surface…With this knowledge, there will be no need to steal objects carrying the fingerprints anymore.”