by Julius Shih | Photo credits: Wikipedia | 26 February 2015
We all loved the new Touch ID from Apple when it first came out. But has making this technology public exposed our vulnerable selves as well? Hackers can now actually easily steal your fingerprints from HD pictures. German hacker Jan Krissler, a.k.a. Starbug, claimed in December 2014 that he has successfully copied the fingerprints of the German Defense Minister through a picture of him at a convention. His intention was to point out the vulnerability of biometric security measures and the dangers of using such a technology.
Generalization of Biometric Tech
Lots of online payments and digital security measures have been implementing the use of finger biometric technology, in which the Touch ID of Apple is best known for among the general public. The real issue about this fingerprint theft technology adopted by hackers is that people’s privacy will be further threatened, as people will face the fear of identity theft through pictures uploaded to social networking sites. Under the technological threat of leaked fingerprints, the consequences are not limited to hackings on iPhones or iTunes, but maybe to more serious matters like stolen digital bank accounts. To extend this even further, if a hacker can generate a copy of people’s fingerprints simply through a picture using simple equipment, then most of us are in the danger of having our fingerprints stolen.
Implications of this Hack Skill
People tend to create and accept products that allow convenient access like biometric technologies, thus the uses of fingerprints are not limited to Touch ID. We may remind you that Apple’s Touch ID can be used to purchase extensively either through Apple Pay or on iTunes. TecHKU reporters have already tried using Touch ID to complete transactions and it is a very simple process of just placing your fingers on the button. In fact, the process is too simple to induce us to making reckless purchases. Other than the common use of fingerprints in purchases, fingerprints are also becoming more generalized in personal securities like safes or door locks for houses. This would otherwise concern safety issues for the biometric security users. Additionally, the use of fingerprints can also be used to create false and misleading crime scenes. This case may seem fictional and movie-like but it is hard not to doubt the possibility of this act when it is theoretically plausible.
Will it be a serious threat to technology safety?
To wrap up, it is not to say that we should exclude our fingers from everything from Facebook to Instagram pictures but to be careful about the reliability of biometric security. People might have enough reasons to not allow easy access to our valuables just through fingerprint measures. New precautionary measures and securities are needed, although there are seemingly little Starbugs yet to become.
Julius Shih
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- Identity Theft? Finger Crisis - February 26, 2015
