For more than a century, it’s been possible to lift fingerprints from a physical surface, like a drinking glass. Now a group of hackers is saying they can copy fingerprints from photographs.<\/p>\n
According to the Chaos Computer Club \u2014 the same Berlin-based group that claimed it cracked Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint sensor last year \u2014 it’s possible to replicate a thumbprint using only photos and commercially available software.<\/p>\n
Theoretically, identity thieves could break into iPhones or other biometrically protected technology using the method.<\/p>\n
All that’s needed is a “standard photo camera” to take some photos, which are then run through software called VeriFinger to create the fingerprint clone, the group claimed at a demonstration\u00a0during its annual convention in Hamburg, Germany, on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The hackers said they were able to recreate German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen’s fingerprint by using a picture of her thumb from an October press conference, as well as a series of different photographs taken from other angles.<\/p>\n
“After this talk, politicians will presumably wear gloves when talking in public,”<\/span> said CCC’s Jan Krissler, also known as “Starbug,” in a news release.<\/p>\n Perhaps this would be a problem for a high-profile person like von der Leyen or, say, President Barack Obama \u2014 if hackers could also get their hands on a device that required those fingerprints. But it’s even harder to imagine how much a regular person would be affected by fingerprint cloning.<\/p>\n Experts have said it’s a time-consuming and difficult process to replicate a fingerprint. Furthermore, getting numerous close-up photos of someone’s thumb could be difficult. Of course, no security method is perfect, but Apple Pay, for example, has been praised for using fingerprint authentication for amped-up security.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Source:\u00a0mashable.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For more than a century, it’s been possible to lift fingerprints from a physical surface, like a drinking glass. Now a group of hackers is saying they can copy fingerprints from photographs. According to the Chaos Computer Club \u2014 the same Berlin-based group that claimed it cracked Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint sensor last year \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":78079,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[18,38],"yoast_head":"\n