High-tech fingerprint scanners like this one can
apparently be thwarted with tape.
(Photo by Matthias Sebulke)
The folks at Mythbusters can say "I told you so" now that Japanese authorities have found a 51-year old woman slipping in and out of the country by using a piece of tape to defeat fingerprint scanners. The seemingly simple exploit raises questions about expensive border security systems -- and about the usefulness of the biometric data the federal government wants to incorporate into drivers licenses with its controversial Real ID scheme.
The unnamed South Korean bar hostess, whose real fingerprints were on file as that of an illegal alien, bypassed her listing in the database with tape supplied by a black market contact named "Mr. Lee." She affixed the tape to her index fingers and let the $45 million security system instantly check her fake prints against a listing of undesirables. Having apparently been given her money's worth by Mr. Lee, she passed into Japan without a hiccup.
The woman was arrested in South Korea after attempting to purchase a fake passport.
U.S. authorities use a similar fingerprint identification system at the border, raising questions about the level of security provided by the high-tech devices. The machines haven't been useless -- they've actually stopped thousand of criminals. The scanners seem to act as an effective barrier to miscreants lacking the sophistication of South Korean bar hostesses, and therefore willing to submit to fingerprinting without taking precautions.
But since workarounds for the scanners are now available on the black market, the cost and false sense of security provided by the technology has to be weighed against the ease with which it can be bypassed.
The same can be said of the controversy-ridden Real ID system, a federally driven scheme for standardizing state-issed drivers licenses and incorporating biometric data.. The plan would effectively convert licenses into national ID cards and has been vigorously opposed by privacy advocates. Many state governments have denounced the plan and several have flat-out refused to comply.
The federal government argues that incorporating biometric data in drivers licenses is necessary for "enhancing national security" and stopping terrorists, but the easy defeat of fingerprint scanners suggests that the Real ID scheme may not be just a threat to privacy, but also an expensive and contentious waste of time.
Not long ago, the popular television show Mythbusters tried several methods of defeating fingerprint scanners and found several relatively simple techniques that worked -- including a photocopy of a fingerprint. You can see them for yourself below.
I wonder if Mr. Lee is a fan of the show.
But don't blame Mythbusters. If there's a buck -- or a yen -- to be made by defeating security, somebody is going to step up and cash in on a little creativity.
Want more information? Here's a paper (PDF) from the Helsinki University of Technology on defeating fingerprint scanners. (Note: The manufacturer emphasizes that the fingerprint scanner spoofed in this paper is older technology that is no longer on the market. As such, the results of this 2003 effort should not be taken to reflect the current state of the art.)
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Comments
What is interesting about this, Myth Busters was supposedly getting ready to do a show about how easy RFID credit cards could skimmed until the show's sponsors caught wind and the episode was shelved...
All of these so-called security measures at airports and elsewhere are a joke on the public at the public's expense. I had a laugh when I read about the lady who got past their system. It shows how how ineffective "security" is and what a gigantic hoax we have all been living with for years now, particularly since 9/11.
"The machines haven't been useless -- they've actually stopped thousand of criminals."
Well, yes and no. It depends on your definition of useless. By some criteria they are worse than useless.
A lot of the criminality invoved has been purely technical immigration offences. The DHS (like our British Home Office) tends also to confuse figures for people 'stopped' and rejected, or labelled as 'suspects' by their systems, with actual criminals convicted by a court of law - a circular argument.
The suggestion that they are worse than useless is based on the simple observation that the scheme is not costless. These elaborate 'security' measures cost billions of taxpayer's dollars and inconvenience all the millions of travellers in order adventitiously to capture a relatively tiny number of offenders - who weren't actually a risk to security.
The money could undoubtedly be better spent, with much less damage to liberty. The DHS's argument for the US-VISIT scheme is about as good as the argument it wouldn't dare make for citizens registering car-journeys in advance and searches and fingerprinting at tollbooths. That too would pick up some unwary police suspects.
How much 'safer' would you like to be?
"he scanners seem to act as an effective barrier to miscreants lacking the sophistication of South Korean bar hostesses" (a term that often translates to "hooker")???
Who does that leave, Richard Reid and Homer Simpson?
Here's the real danger of these machines: they give border guards a false sense of security that they are doing the guards' jobs for them. As a result, nobody does that job.
Department of Homeland Severity is National Security Theater and its first act is 'Safety: The Tyrant's Tool' because no one can be against safety.
Well of course finger print scanners can be hacked and bypassed. Any security method can be hacked and bypassed. We've known since locks were first invented that they could be picked and opened without the key, but people still use locks because it adds security. Similarly, finger print scanners add some security. Hackers and the chattering classes readily fall into this mindset that if a security tool can be broken, it must be useless. Not the case, most people are pretty lazy and not that smart.
Now, if someone is saying that any new individual security measure is the be all end all, be it biometrics or RFID, then they are obviously misleading people and should be called out for giving a false sense of security. But to my knowledge no one is really claiming that with finger print scanners anymore.
Also, if finger print scanners are catching illegal immigrants, then shouldn't you support it? Do you support enforcing immigration law or not? Every other country on the face of the earth tries seriously to enforce their immigration laws. Without meaningful borders how are you going to set up a social welfare state, supply government services and so forth. If you want to let these people in, great, but do so in a legal manner. The worst thing to do is try to weaken our border control system and allow them in as illegal immigrants with a wink and a nod, because than they live in the shadows of society.
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