In the News: Researchers Create ‘Master Key’ Fingerprint to Fool Biometric Security

Image Printed, Not Booked By Alan Levine Used Under CC BY 2.0

Do you use fingerprints as part of the security of your mobile phone? If you think that the unique characteristics of your fingers provide adequate protection from unauthorized access to your personal information, read on!

According to a report by TheNextWeb [1], researchers at New York University have created a set of master fingerprint keys that can overcome biometric security features. Using machine learning, they developed a set of artificial prints that matched a random fingerprint that existed in a database one out of five times [2].

A worrying trend in smartphone hardware is the inclusion of fingerprint sensors as a primary means to unlock the device. The researchers from NYU pointed out that the portion of a finger that gets scanned by the fingerprint sensors on phones are often quite small, leading to more vulnerability.

The artificially generated prints — known as “DeepMasterPrints” — do not require any source information from users. Instead, they try common fingerprint elements, such as loops and whirls, to perform a dictionary attack against the samples stored on a database. This tweet by Mikko Hypponen, a cybersecurity journalist, explains how this type of attack would work:

Interesting research on creating synthetic fingerprints that can match a large number of real fingerprints. These would be Master Prints, just like we have Master Keys for locks. #GAN https://t.co/YzNjfHzZpB pic.twitter.com/2n39On45pP

— @mikko (@mikko) November 13, 2018

What do you think?

• Are you confident in the security of a fingerprint sensor to protect your data?
• Should phones stop installing fingerprint sensors until this vulnerability has been fixed?
• What do you think of biometric security’s ability to keep your information private?
• What are your thoughts on the research from NYU that created these ‘DeepMasterPrints’?

Let us know what you think about this article and your responses to our questions in the comments below!

For more information, check out these articles:

Computer Scientists Are Developing A ‘Master’ Fingerprint That Could Unlock Your Phone [Huffington Post]

Capacitance Scanner – How Fingerprint Scanners Work [HowStuffWorks]

More Than One Billion Smartphones with Fingerprint Sensors Will Be Shipped In 2018 [Counterpoint Research]

Biometrics Are Coming & So Are Security Concerns [DarkReading]

Biometric Security Poses Huge Privacy Risks [Scientific American]

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not constitute legal or financial advice.

Always do your own research to make informed decisions.

Edited by: Monique Rodrigues