Slashdot Mirror

It is not possible to recreate the image of a fingerprint from the template.

Identix makes a Biometric PC-Card:

http://www.identix.com/products/pro_info_fp_biotou ch_pc.html

Others:

http://www.secure-it.com/products/umatch/via253.ht m
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/security/6518/

That would seem to be what you're looking for for a laptop. The Biometric sensor slides in and out of the card leaving it perfectly flush with the side of the laptop. This should help avoid accidental breakage.

My experience comes mostly from the Identix Optical sensors. Problems:
-Optical Biometrics can be bypassed via simple gummibear technology ;). Google it up if you don't believe it :).

-Optical sensors are notoriously finicky. People with poor fingerprint definition - people who work with their hands, as in a garden (earth is abrasive) or workout with weights (sometimes the weight bars can be abrasive) might have problems getting their fingerprints read. Same goes for dry skin, and for some reason, black people. Not trying to be racist here or anything, we did a pilot at work a few years back and 9/10 black people had problems getting their prints read by the system.

-Anything that messes with your Windows GINA authentication system can cause problems. I've seen the Identix product freak out if it couldn't find an internet connection, or a domain controller, or the internet connection was half baked, etc. It was very very random. May have been solved with their latest service packs.

Finally, you're still best off applying some form of encryption to your files.

Good luck,

-Jack Ash

http://www.identix.com/datasheets/faceit/ABIS_law. pdf

http://www.identix.com/datasheets/faceit/ABIS_civi l_id.pdf

http://www.identix.com/datasheets/faceit/ABIS.pdf

http://www.compukiss.com/populartopics/travel_tran shtm/article836.htm

http://www.findbiometrics.com/Pages/smile.html

http://www.aaae.org/government/150_Transportation_ Security_Policy/400_sponsors_and_corporate_members /visionicspr9.html

http://www.identix.com/industries/BRCH/border_sol. pdf

There are lots more out there. Look for yourself.

http://www.identix.com/datasheets/faceit/ABIS_law. pdf

http://www.identix.com/datasheets/faceit/ABIS_civi l_id.pdf

http://www.identix.com/datasheets/faceit/ABIS.pdf

http://www.compukiss.com/populartopics/travel_tran shtm/article836.htm

http://www.findbiometrics.com/Pages/smile.html

http://www.aaae.org/government/150_Transportation_ Security_Policy/400_sponsors_and_corporate_members /visionicspr9.html

http://www.identix.com/industries/BRCH/border_sol. pdf

There are lots more out there. Look for yourself.

http://www.identix.com/datasheets/faceit/ABIS_law. pdf

http://www.identix.com/datasheets/faceit/ABIS_civi l_id.pdf

http://www.identix.com/datasheets/faceit/ABIS.pdf

http://www.compukiss.com/populartopics/travel_tran shtm/article836.htm

http://www.findbiometrics.com/Pages/smile.html

http://www.aaae.org/government/150_Transportation_ Security_Policy/400_sponsors_and_corporate_members /visionicspr9.html

http://www.identix.com/industries/BRCH/border_sol. pdf

There are lots more out there. Look for yourself.

http://www.identix.com/datasheets/faceit/ABIS_law. pdf

http://www.identix.com/datasheets/faceit/ABIS_civi l_id.pdf

http://www.identix.com/datasheets/faceit/ABIS.pdf

http://www.compukiss.com/populartopics/travel_tran shtm/article836.htm

http://www.findbiometrics.com/Pages/smile.html

http://www.aaae.org/government/150_Transportation_ Security_Policy/400_sponsors_and_corporate_members /visionicspr9.html

http://www.identix.com/industries/BRCH/border_sol. pdf

There are lots more out there. Look for yourself.

Can the biometric data be hashed and the hash used for verification instead?

The company that I recently worked for makes and sells a fingerprinting system (aka AFIS or Automatic Fingerprint Identification System). It takes input from a fingerprint reader, which is really a special black and white digital camera with a fixed focus, something like this. The software identifies the X,Y coordinates of the specific areas of the fingerprint image, such bifurcations, ridges, furrows and stuff (maybe a fingerprinting expert can help me out here on the details).

The software creates a hash of the two dimensional relationship between the various X,Y coordinates. Here in Hungary if more than 19 of these points match up with a fingerprint taken at a crime scene, you go to jail. That is enough evidence for conviction. The software takes the coordinates of dozens of these areas of interest and can match even partial fingerprints (and palm prints) very quickly, since the search involves comparing short text strings, rather than multi-kilobyte images. As the software analyses spatial relationship rather than image data, it does not matter whether the partial fingerprint is rotated - the relationship between the points stays the same.

FYI, my right thumb's hash was 186 bytes long - that's 1488 bits. 2^1488 is 8.56 x 10^447 (if my maths is correct). My fingerprint is unique indeed. BTW, the 186 bytes is just raw data, no header information.

I wish I still had access to that marketing document where I had a screenshot of my right thumb's hash, I could paste the ASCII text in here for you all to see (hey, the US Government already has my fingerprint on file since the last time I visited Dulles International Airport, why shouldn't you?). Besides, without the actual fingerprinting code, the hash wouldn't do you much good, now, would it.

No, I'm not selling $FINGERPRINTING_SOFTWARE anymore, so don't ask.

To answer the parent's question, the process used in our case is strictly one way. A new fingerprint is hashed and then compared to stored hash(es). There is no way to reconstruct the orginal fingerprint, because all the image data has been thrown away and frankly, it's better this way. Fancy graphics look nice in the mooovies, but are a real pain when it comes to finding a match out of a population of a million fingerprints (and that's a small subset of the national population, since the majority of people have ten fingers.)

Alas, I don't know how the competition does it - probably something similar, though. Yeah, I know, "in post-Communist Hungary, the print fingers YOU!", etc.

Not to mention, I once met one of the original software designers of Faceit at an ISSA meeting, and he said it could easily be defeated by wearing glasses and a hat. It uses the center of the nose and forehead as the starting point for determining facial geometry. Obscure these from view, and it can't even begin to make a match.