Fingerprint Authentication Compromised By Hacker

A German hacker has publicly demonstrated a way to compromise fingerprint authentication using a ordinary digital camera. Jan Krissler, a member of Europe’s oldest hacker collective, the Chaos Computer Club, was able to compromise the identity of Germany’s Minister of Defense, Ursula von der Leyen. He did so by taking some photographs of the woman from approximately 9 feet away. Then he enlarged the portions of the photo that contained her fingerprints. Using a commercially available software product called VeriFinger, Krissler was able to reconstruct von der Leyen’s fingerprints electronically. This is not the first attempt to compromise a fingerprint authentication system, but it is the first that did not require a physical fingerprint. Kinda scary.