ka1ifq wrote:
On Saturday 24 March 2007 13:34, David Brodbeck wrote:
Rajko M. wrote:
2) Is there any bank that is asking for such identification for credit cards? There will be no so much problems with stolen identities if they would.
Fingerprint readers are not foolproof. I remember reading an article not long ago where some researchers took impressions of people's fingers and made fake fingerprints out of gelatin. They fooled several popular fingerprint reading devices. This worries me because fingerprint technology effectively relies on a secret "password" that cannot be changed. If someone finds out your PIN, you can always change it. If someone steals your fingerprints, you're stuck. Over-reliance on biometrics may create more problems than it solves.
This was done on a popular show "Mythbusters". They are not accomplished crooks but figured out how to do it in a short period of time. They did not reveal the information on how they managed to defeat the reader, but the manufacturer did claim it was foolproof, guess not. One way or another information on new technology gets leaked and it gets busted..
As I understand it all you need is super glue, a bit of plastic and a glass with the targets dabs to get an impression. Transferring the impression to a an object is a little more tricky. For more sophisticated readers the object may need to heated to blood temperature. Foolproof security is a bit like like the myth of the unsinkable ship. Once human ingenuity (or incompetence) enters the equation anything can happen (and often does). :-)
Mike