Before you get too excited about the prospect of someday replacing your computer passwords with your fingerprint, you should know that experts are now saying fingerprint ID’s can be hacked.
New York University researcher Phillip Bontrager describes two approaches to defeating fingerprint-based security.
One is to make a kind of master fingerprint that can open many computers and phones.
“For small parts of fingerprints, you could use common features of people’s fingerprints to create one fingerprint that can match for a lot of people.”
Another way focuses on phone fingerprint sensors.
“What our technique is actually exploiting is the fact that a lot of sensors for smart phones are usually very small. So if you had a touch I.D. on smart phone, you’ll see that it only scans a small part of your finger and then it has you scan your finger many times So that small part of your finger is not as unique as a full fingerprint.”
Phillip Bontrager was a guest on McIntyre in the Morning.
By Sandy Wells
KABC News