Gummi Bears Defeat Fingerprint Sensors

Having seen ads for computers, etc that require your fingerprint before they will operate I was intrigued by this article over at The Security Samurai. I had never considered the fact that I might need or want to be able to change the password when the password was my finger – even though I have watched enough a couple of seasons of Alias that I should know better.

I meant to write about this a while ago, but I took a few weeks off. I had to come back to this one though. The Register has an article on using gummi bears to defeat fingerprint scanners. I am not a proponent of biometrics. Unlike other authentication methods, you can’t change the secret if it’s ever revealed. You can’t get a new finger, trade in your eyeballs, or swap vocal chords….yet anyway. I like securing my laptop with a password. I protect my passwords, and use different ones for different things, so if one is breached, it will be limited.

So that’s why I took particular enjoyment with this story. My father is a jeweler and if I was in his shop, it would take me 15 minutes to break into a fingerprint protected laptop using a similar method to the one described. I knew playing with chemicals as a kid would prove useful one day