(The video after the jump shows how the hack works. )
It is no secret that I have mentioned reasonably often in the recent past about the limitations of fingerprint biometrics.
A few years ago, I was offering (what I thought was) a brilliant product that used a fingerprint scanner as the access control solution. It turns out that I couldnt have been more wrong. I discovered, through significant trial and error that biometric fingerprint scanners are faulty by design.
I think that one of the reasons that fingerprint identification became the rage, a few years ago, was because law enforcement and investigation services have been using the technology for many years to assist with forensic investigations. While it has proved to greatly assist investigators with identifying suspects, the technology must have been misinterpreted when someone thought they could use the technology as an access control solution.
After selling numerous fingerprint scanner products to concerned customers, I was disappointed to discover that most of the products available incurred serious sensitivity issues. Specifically, that people over aged 55 had enormous difficulty operating the devices unless the scanner sensitivity was turned down to zero. This directly reduced the perceived security of the devices. But that was not the only problem...
As we age, our fingerprints start to wear and this can negatively affect the quality of a fingerprint, as read by an imaging device. Combine that with cuts and abrasions we might obtain periodically and the quality of our fingerprint can vary. This will have detrimental effects upon access control products.
I think that fingerprint technology was once thought of as the perfect solution for those of us (especially elder people) who tend to lose or misplace our keys. You cant lose a finger so easily, right?
The hack mentioned above (and in the source below) proves that fingerprint technology is not the effective solution it was once thought to be. Of course it needs to be expertly performed, but a hack this simple is extraordinary when you consider the expense that some companies are going to, to offer protective services.
I think that current password technology is actually more secure than fingerprint technology, especially in access control products and one reason is because your password can be changed. Your fingerprint cannot, can it?
So what kinds of technology are recommended as an alternative to fingerprint scanners? we have previously mentioned about Iris scanners and face recognition devices. Facial recognition is worth considering because your face has many more points that a camera scanner can filter to correctly read an authorized access. Combine that with the fact that you dont require to physically touch the scanner (in some cases) and you offer a sanitary and very secure access control solution that is significantly harder to hack.
(source...)