So You Think You Can Secure Your Mobile Phone With a Fingerprint?
Researchers find that similarities in partial fingerprints may be sufficient to trick biometric security systems on…
- My Informs May 3rd, 2017
- Source: http://myinforms.com/en-us/a/345627523-so-you-think-you-can-secure-your-mobile-phone-with-a-fingerprint/
No two people are believed to have identical fingerprints, but researchers at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering and Michigan State University College of Engineering have found that partial similarities between prints are common enough that the fingerprint-based security systems used in mobile phones and other electronic devices can be more vulnerable than previously thought.
The vulnerability lies in the fact that fingerprint-based authentication systems feature small sensors that do not capture a user's full fingerprint. Instead, they scan and store partial fingerprints, and many phones allow users to enroll several different fingers in their authentication system.
