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Biometric Face Recognition Exploit

clscott writes "A researcher at the U. of Ottawa has developed an exploit to which most biometric systems are probably vulnerable. He developed an algorithm which allows a fairly high quality image of a person to be regenerated from a face recognition template. Three commercial face rec. algorithms were tested and in all cases the image could masquerade to the algorithm as the target person. Here are links to a talk and a paper. Unfortunately, biometric templates are currently considered to be non-identifiable, much like a password hash. This means that legislation gets passed to require hundreds of millions of people to have their biometrics encoded onto their passports. This kind of vulnerability could mean that anyone who reads these documents has access to the holders fingerprint, iris images, etc."

188 comments

  1. This problem is solved by redundancy by NumberField · · Score: 5, Funny
    This isn't a problem because most people have extras of the body parts used for most biometric schemes. For example, you probably a large supply of fingers (about ten), so it doesn't matter if a few get compromised. Similarly, if you have two eyes, it's not a big deal if your retinal print becomes known to bad guys.

    (P.S. Please no replies from humor-impaired folks.)

    1. Re:This problem is solved by redundancy by gerf · · Score: 4, Funny

      This isn't a problem because most people have extras of the body parts used for most biometric schemes. For example, you probably a large supply of fingers (about ten), so it doesn't matter if a few get compromised. Similarly, if you have two eyes, it's not a big deal if your retinal print becomes known to bad guys. (P.S. Please no replies from humor-impaired folks.)

      I don't get it. The way you're talking isn't in a standard joking format at all. Maybe you Canadians have a different sense of humor?

    2. Re:This problem is solved by redundancy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe Canadians do, but it would be humour, which leads me to believe the poster isn't Canadian at all. (humor-impaired folks.)

    3. Re:This problem is solved by redundancy by stefanlasiewski · · Score: 4, Funny

      I don't get it. The way you're talking isn't in a standard joking format at all. Maybe you Canadians have a different sense of humor?

      Yeah really.

      In the States, all of our humor formats have been standardized by the Department of Homeland Security. Currently, I'm 80% done with my ISO9666 humor certification. When I'm done, everyone will be able to understand and interface with my humor.

      --
      "Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
    4. Re:This problem is solved by redundancy by Xzzy · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm sorry, go back and read chapter two, where they talk about humor types by geographic region. Your above intended format falls into "excessively dry", which if my memory serves is a method perfected, and quite jealously defended, by the British.

      American humor is expected to involve either bodily functions or blonde women.

      Failure to employ region-appropriate humor will potentially flag you for review as a potential terrorist.

    5. Re:This problem is solved by redundancy by nacturation · · Score: 3, Funny
      I don't get it. The way you're talking isn't in a standard joking format at all. Maybe you Canadians have a different sense of humor?

      If you *insist* on American style humor, here it is:

      [audience laughtrack #24]
      --
      Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
    6. Re:This problem is solved by redundancy by randyest · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This isn't a problem because most people have extras of the body parts used for most biometric schemes.
      It's not a problem at all. On the contrary, it is a really good discovery IMHO. The most important conclusion from this is (from the talk slides):

      Biometric software systems should provide yes/no only, with no match score values.

      My question is: why would the software systems ever need to give a match score value, instead of a yes/no answer in the first place? It's not like the algorithm developer is there operating the machine and can thus use the score result to help decide what to do with "near" matches. Most of the people using these machines, I would surmise, are pretty clueless about how they work (except in a very general sense, of course), so providing a score result would only be confusing and a potential source of misidentification:

      "Hmm, that John Doe matched with a score of 95, and it turned out not to be the guy, so this 94 score can't possibly really be Osama Bin Laden -- go ahead and let him on the plane with his antique ceremonial religious knives."

      Either the system thinks it knows the person's face, or it doesn't. That's all it needs to say. Saying just that and nothing more will protect privacy (in that you can't reconstruct the face without the template and quantitative match score results), and it will prevent operator confusion and some types of misapplication.

      --
      everything in moderation
    7. Re:This problem is solved by redundancy by YU+Nicks+NE+Way · · Score: 4, Funny

      Please put your tin-foil hat away. The incorrect use of humor will not flag anyone for review as a potential terrorist. There is no reason to be concerned that we will interfere with any humor-related deviance. It is only in those cases where individuals with perverted senses of so-called humor that pose a threat to our national security (as determined by our objective and reproducible criteria), and who aver themselves unwilling to participate in our voluntary humor-retraining camps, who will be marked for review. In order to reduce the number of individuals whose privacy will be sacrificed to review, we will use only publicly available data. In order to incentivize those who will be encouraged to attend humor-improvement camps, we intend to locate them in tropical locations near to the ocean, but not on US territory.

    8. Re:This problem is solved by redundancy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      don't forget farts (bodily functions in general), and breasts and other parts of the female anatomy as sources of American humor.

      Did I miss anything?

    9. Re:This problem is solved by redundancy by mcrbids · · Score: 1

      American humor is expected to involve either bodily functions or blonde women.

      Yeah, or Polish people.

      --
      I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
    10. Re:This problem is solved by redundancy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      American humor is expected to involve either bodily functions or blonde women.

      You forgot humor involving a man getting hit in groin by a football! You sir are not an America.

    11. Re:This problem is solved by redundancy by corbettw · · Score: 1

      "American humor is expected to involve either bodily functions or blonde women."

      Of course, the best humor involves both.

      --
      God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
    12. Re:This problem is solved by redundancy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well if it's American humour, it's gonna have fart jokes, toilet jibes and sexual undertones. Canadian humour almost always involves some kind of political bent about Jean Cretien, the PC party, the Liberal party or the 401. Beaver jokes are only funny to Americans.

    13. Re:This problem is solved by redundancy by PaulBu · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Maybe because in different situations different threshold would have to be applied. E.g., if it is a terrorist monitoring camera on a random street corner, it might not be feasible to unleash FBI agents after every guy who matched at 80%, but if that random street corner happens to be in Washington, DC across the street from the White House, 80% confidence might be a reason to trigger further actions.

      And if it is a camera in the cash machine and you claim that you are Joe and want to get your $500, you better match Joe's face at, say, 99% (it can also ask you to turn a bit and face the lens if your score is lower than some threshold.

      Another example, if an airport screener can realistically check 10 people out of a hundred, she chooses ones with the highest scores. Yes, it might mean that John Doe in your example will be checked, and Osama will be not, IF there are other 9 people in line with scores >=95.

      Algorithms used might be the same, but exact policy is implemented by taking scores into account.

      There is more than binary yes/no in this world...

      Paul B.

      P.S. Not that I know anything about the actual numbers or policies, but I can see the value of having the scores available to people who program the machine, but not necessarily to the screeners (if any) who operate them.

    14. Re:This problem is solved by redundancy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That, my good sir, is incredibly accurate. I am neither South, or North America. I am Bulgaria. Bow before my yoghurt might.

    15. Re:This problem is solved by redundancy by stefanlasiewski · · Score: 1

      Yeah, or Polish people.

      Hey in that case, I think I qualify :)

      --
      "Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
    16. Re:This problem is solved by redundancy by sproketboy · · Score: 1

      Maybe. Maybe we should recall Jim Carey, Dana Carvery, Mike Meyers and Lesley Neilson. We'd take John Candy back too but you killed him with all that McDonalds food!

    17. Re:This problem is solved by redundancy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You spelled "Belgium" wrong, There is no "r". Also, you spelled "yogurt" incorrectly.

      On a grammer note, you should say "I am neither South, nor North American. Hope it helps.

    18. Re:This problem is solved by redundancy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bang! Zoom!

    19. Re:This problem is solved by redundancy by znode · · Score: 1

      I repeat; there is no American humor on Iraqi soil. We have choked, gagged, and croaked our foes with superior Iraqi humor. The infidels shall suffer the wrath of Bill-alshaf Cosb-ylti!

    20. Re:This problem is solved by redundancy by Axel+Eble · · Score: 1
      Did you think about what will happen when your face is incorrectly recognized? Knowing people I believe you will be singled out at $airport and treated as a terrorist even if you could prove that you are not the culprit.

      The current political climate in the US (and several other terrorist-crazed parts of the world) will happily use anything that they think might work without wanting to hear people who see the problems with the latest and coolest technology.

      The end users will believe the system because they were trained to.

      The innocent people that happened to suffer from a false positive will lose the most.

    21. Re:This problem is solved by redundancy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wenn ist das Nunstruck git und Slotermeyer?

      Ja!... Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!

    22. Re:This problem is solved by redundancy by majestyk2000 · · Score: 1

      Jim Carey, Dana Carvery, Mike Meyers and Lesley Neilson.

      I'm not sure how you did it, but you managed to misspell EVERY name in that grouping there. How about we give you back all those people, and keep Jim Carrey, Dana Carvey, Mike Myers, and Leslie Nielsen? At least you spelled John Candy right.

  2. Other systems too? by mgcsinc · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Personally I use BioPassword for authenticating my workstation using keystroke recognition, so I seem to be safe from the exploit as yet; holding an image up to a computer seems like it would require considerably less effort than attaching a PS2 device that typed at exactly the correct rate. Nonetheless, I wonder if this discovery will prompt the redesigning of the way user data is stored across the biometric spectrum, going as far as the oft considered-foolproof keystroke systems...

    1. Re:Other systems too? by spydir31 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Keystroke and timing capture/playback is trivial, I wouldn't go trusting that as secure.

    2. Re:Other systems too? by NixterAg · · Score: 4, Informative

      BioPassword unfortunately suffers from a habit of producing false rejections. It really diminishes its usability. BioPassword's best trait is that it doesn't require an additional hardware purchase to work. Several high profile banks inspected BioPassword to determine whether they could use it for identity authentication within the context of online purchases. They came to the conclusion that it wasn't usable enough.

      I think many people miss the boat when it comes to biometric identity authentication. The fact is, any security protocol can be exploited. The idea is to make it a protocol difficult enough to exploit so that it isn't in the best interests of an attacker to go after whatever is being secured. It's like cryptography. There is no unbreakable code or cipher, but there are codes that are difficult enough to break that it isn't worth the time or effort required to break them.

    3. Re:Other systems too? by Kashif+Shaikh · · Score: 1

      So why don't we just create a long 50000-bit key and slap it onto a magnetic-swipe card?

      That way, the system is only comprised when:

      a) You lose the card
      b) Someone threatens you at knife-point to hand the card over.

      In such cases, you simply call the card authority to invalidate the card's key and get a new one.

    4. Re:Other systems too? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Additionally, I discovered the wonderful fact that if you can type fast enough -- you will succesfully pass ANYONES biopassword. Go figure.

      Note -- This was about a year ago.

    5. Re:Other systems too? by Dun+Malg · · Score: 1
      So why don't we just create a long 50000-bit key and slap it onto a magnetic-swipe card?

      A huge key is unnecessary. If they have the card, they have the key. The key exists solely to keep someone from whipping up a card with your user ID and getting instant access. No one is going to guess your key even if it's only 128 bits.

      That way, the system is only comprised when:

      a) You lose the card
      b) Someone threatens you at knife-point to hand the card over.

      Seeing that we already have the system you describe above (sans ridiculously large key) in use for ATMs, one has to look at the purpose of biometric authentication. Yeah, that's right: with biometric you can't easily a) lose the "key", and b) no one can easily take it from you at knifepoint.

      --
      If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
    6. Re:Other systems too? by AllenChristopher · · Score: 1

      They can, however, take some biometrics at knife edge.

  3. paranoia by klokwise · · Score: 5, Funny

    maybe i should extend my tin-foil hat to a tin-foil facemask and a pair of shiny gloves... that way they'll never recognise me!

    1. Re:paranoia by Emugamer · · Score: 1, Funny

      Micheal, is that you? I didn't recognize you with two gloves on!

    2. Re:paranoia by donutz · · Score: 1

      I bet they've already got a system that can identify you by the way you walk, or it's being developed. All they need you to do now is walk down that hallway in your apartment building and the floor sensors will have you identified...

    3. Re:paranoia by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 2, Funny
      Yeah, There was news here a few months ago about this - it does exist.

      Problems include a high failure rate when women switched between high-heels and flats, etc...

      --
      "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
      Never been known to fail..."
    4. Re:paranoia by palewhitemale · · Score: 0

      I've been doing some reading on this subject and it's actually possible for a human to distinguish between other humans' gaits by only 5 points of light that represent the motion of 5 points on the body. If a can find links I'll post them.

      pale

    5. Re:paranoia by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 1

      ...aah, so then we go for the "ants in the pants" disguise!

    6. Re:paranoia by SoSueMe · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Here is a little more on this.

    7. Re:paranoia by palewhitemale · · Score: 0

      here's a link to a student's thesis work on the subject, it's pretty indepth but not too complicated.
      http://www.lems.brown.edu/vision/cou rses/computer- vision/projects/McBride/pres_files/CV-final.html

    8. Re:paranoia by CVaneg · · Score: 2, Funny

      Man. I bet John Cleese could make a fortune teaching classes on defeating this system.

    9. Re:paranoia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      maybe i should extend my tin-foil hat to a tin-foil facemask and a pair of shiny gloves... that way they'll never recognise me!

      ha! not if you wear THOSE shoes

    10. Re:paranoia by shadowbearer · · Score: 1

      It' never work for me. My gait changes considerably on cold, wet days when the arthritis in my knees kicks in.
      Something like that would, as someone else noted, also produce false rejections depending on the type of shoes worn, whether your pants are tight or loose, etc. What if you broke an ankle? Your gait would change considerably for months as it healed up (I've spiral-fractured one, and it was nearly a year before I could walk decently again).

      But you know, I'd bet some company somewhere is already working on something like this....

      SB

      --
      It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
    11. Re:paranoia by darnok · · Score: 1

      > maybe i should extend my tin-foil hat to a tin-foil
      > facemask and a pair of shiny gloves... that way
      > they'll never recognise me!

      Nice idea, C3PO, but I don't think you'll get away with it...

  4. Facial recognition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    ...doesn't work worth a damn anyway. Other forms of biometric authentication are much more reliable.

    1. Re:Facial recognition by Herr_Nightingale · · Score: 4, Insightful

      the point that EVERYbody is missing is that biometric authentication is inherently flawed - it's like a password that cannot be changed. Obviously there are innumerable flaws. How is this news?

    2. Re:Facial recognition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I worked for a company that had hand geometry scanners. The machine was programmed to use our right hands, but it could always be fooled by using the left hand but upside down.

      Even biometrics aren't foolproof.

  5. At least a good guy discovered this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I'm glad to know that someone legit found this out before it got into the hands of those evil terrorists . Seriously, it's great that these kinds of things are being discovered now. It just goes to show that no matter what, things can be hacked/bypassed/etc somehow.

    1. Re:At least a good guy discovered this by gregmac · · Score: 3, Funny
      It just goes to show that no matter what, things can be hacked/bypassed/etc somehow.

      Not anymore, Palladium is here to save us.

      --
      Speak before you think
    2. Re:At least a good guy discovered this by Dylan+Zimmerman · · Score: 1

      What do you mean, "a good guy discovered this"? Do you actually think that anybody who would exploit it would TELL us that he could exploit it? Honestly.

      Biometric identification is inherently flawed because it relies on things that cannot easily be changed (i.e., without major surgery), but that can be reproduced. This has been known for years. They even use similar situations on TV shows (Paul Milander, anyone?).

    3. Re:At least a good guy discovered this by chundo · · Score: 1

      Anything can be hacked when you're storing it in the clear. Of course you'll be able to regenerate the template when you already know exactly which points need to match. The solution to this "exploit" is to run a cryptographic algorithm on the facial template before storing it anywhere. Just like /etc/shadow... you can provide an unencrypted facial template, encrypt it, and compare the two results - but you can never regenerate the original from the encrypted record (well, not without more computing power than is realistically available).

      -j

    4. Re:At least a good guy discovered this by geronimo_jerry · · Score: 1

      yea, but how long will it be before the Feds break down his door screaming "...DMCA! DMCA! DMCA!"

      --
      Jerry Fletcher,
      Privacy Protection By:
      http://www.cotse.net/servicedetails.html
  6. One thing that is missing from "the spoof" by adzoox · · Score: 5, Interesting
    A local company to me, has a biometric scan + retina and thumbprint scan, but it also takes your body temp average/signature .... the combination of the three are pretty hard, if not impossible, to spoof. And, anyone that can, was going to break into your system anyway. (With the VERY expensive equipment and extensive knowledge it would take to reproduce all three)

    Sometimes we give criminals to much credit. Again, if it's someone that can go through all three of those, they were going to get past the toughest of Indiana Jones hurdles.

    --
    Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
    1. Re:One thing that is missing from "the spoof" by Emugamer · · Score: 5, Funny

      Biometric analysis equipment $250,000
      Staff time to implement new security procedures $12500
      Sledge hammer: $25
      Expression on the Project Manager's face after he realized he should have installed a better door: Priceless

    2. Re:One thing that is missing from "the spoof" by u19925 · · Score: 1

      "but it also takes your body temp average/..."

      how long, does it take to measure body temp average? days, months, ...?

    3. Re:One thing that is missing from "the spoof" by hobbesmaster · · Score: 1
      A local company to me, has a biometric scan + retina and thumbprint scan, but it also takes your body temp average/signature


      So if you catch a cold you can't even get into the building?
    4. Re:One thing that is missing from "the spoof" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Well, if the company knew you then wouldn't they let you in during operation hours anyway?

      Also, it's a system that's set up that has taken your average temperature over several attempts.

      There is also a "swipe" near the door and a camera pointed right at it being monitored 24/7.

    5. Re:One thing that is missing from "the spoof" by Alsee · · Score: 1

      Again, if it's someone that can go through all three of those, they were going to get past the toughest of Indiana Jones hurdles.


      Tell me about it. It's damn exhausting hauling that boulder back up all the time.

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
    6. Re:One thing that is missing from "the spoof" by Axel+Eble · · Score: 1

      Consider it an enhancement: you are being sent home until you are well again. And you can't spread your cold.

      All in all, both you and your colleagues are better off.

  7. match score whaaa? by palewhitemale · · Score: 0

    am I undrstanding correctly that the systems return a score that reflects your % accuracy? Cool, so it's just a game of digital hot/cold. This sounds like a promising technology but honestly, how does the implementation get screwed up so badly.

    -palewhitemale

  8. Old News by fobbman · · Score: 4, Funny

    The fallibility of biometric systems has been widely known since a scientific expose was released on the topic no less than five years ago.

  9. RTFA by Uhh_Duh · · Score: 1, Interesting

    You'll notice that the data is insecure so much as the database the biometric information is stored in is protected.

    All they're saying is that if they have access to that information, they can generate something that can authenticate against it. (DUH!)

    The moral of the story is that if you don't want someone to pretend to be Bob's face, don't give anyone access to the database that has the information on what Bob's face looks like to the biometric scanners. /. has sure been good at wasting my time with useless news lately.

    --
    -- People who hate Windows use Linux. People who love UNIX use BSD.
    1. Re:RTFA by deadsaijinx* · · Score: 1

      what do you mean lately?

      --
      YOU SUCK BALLS!
    2. Re:RTFA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This would not appear to be the case. If I am not
      mistaken - they are talking about regenerating
      a "good" image from an arbitrary image and match
      scores. I may be wrong, but this would be like
      a brute force attack - if the algorithm in play
      on the image server sends you back a match score.

  10. Yikes! by ackthpt · · Score: 2, Informative
    This means that legislation gets passed to require hundreds of millions of people to have their biometrics encoded onto their passports.

    So this means that spotty, streaky photo of me (or is it a dog .. a wombat maybe?) on the back of my CostCo membership card isn't safe! Just about anyone could march in the door, past their regorously trained staff and buy Boca Burgers for half off!

    Someone showed me a fake driver's license made by a "novelty" company. The only distinguishable difference was a missing apostrophe in the text on the reverse. It had holograms and everything. Thoughtfully, the company stated, "This is only for amusement value, illegal to use as ID", etc. Yeah, that should cover it.

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    1. Re:Yikes! by shadowbearer · · Score: 1

      "or is it a dog .. a wombat maybe?"

      Dude, you should have a serious conversation with your foks :-)))

      SB

      --
      It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
  11. Ghostview... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  12. The solution: store biometric data on a Java Card by ikewillis · · Score: 1, Insightful
    I think this only further proves the need for something like a Java Card

    (btw, I don't work for Sun)

    A Java Card would allow you to store information (in this case biometric data) in a way that the data could be used in some sort of transformation but the original data is protected.

    Were biometric data to be included on Passports, I see no better way to store it than in a Java Card. Portions of the biometric data analysis could be offloaded onto the Java Card itself, until an acceptable and mutual balance of trust and distrust can be achieved between the biometric processing algorithms and the data on the Java Card. In this way the biometric data is never exposed directly to the outside world, so one need not worry about it getting leaked to the "bad guys" even if your passport were stolen.

  13. Does the database depend on obscurity? by astrashe · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I've been curious about these databases and how they work. They have to take the images and proces them, presumably into some sort of n-tuple. And then they database that.

    But how will they handle changes? I mean, people will probably figure out how the recognition works, and learn how to trick it. If you know the scheme, it probably wouldn't be too hard.

    If they have a giant database of these n-tuples, generated from photos, will they have to recrunch every photo in the db when they want to improve the system, or respond to holes that emerge? I guess they'll have a lot of computer power, so it's probably not too bad.

    The thing that worries me about this stuff is the possibility that the crooks and terrorists will be able to defeat it trivially, but the average citizen will be tracked everywhere he or she goes.

  14. x10 Get your Biometric Face Master Template by bugsmalli · · Score: 3, Funny

    **Guy snooping on a girl sunbathing**

    Want to snoop on your neighbor?? Want to trespass?? Want to know if there are Aliens at Area 51???

    GET YOUR OWN BIOMETRIC FACE MASTER TEMPLATE. Guaranteed to *FOOL* all Biometric Scanners. Get the *NEW* and *IMPROVED* BIOMETRIC FACE MASTER TEMPLATE from X10. It will even fool our OWN SECURITY CAMERA!!! Our NEW special offer, buy one BFMT and get PRE-APPROVED Bail for FREE (good for 5000 dollars) ORDER NOW!!!

  15. Am I reading the description incorrectly? by EdgeShadow · · Score: 1

    Unfortunately, biometric templates are currently considered to be non-identifiable, much like a password hash. This means that legislation gets passed to require hundreds of millions of people to have their biometrics encoded onto their passports.

    Those two statements seem to be contradictory. If biometric templates are considered to be "non-identifiable" (much like lie-detector tests are inadmissable in court due to unreliability), why would legislation be passed to require them to be used in passports? A United States passport is often considered the most reliable form of identification for a U.S. citizen. I don't see why the government would risk compromising the passport's reliability by incorporating into it a supposed "unreliable" technology.

    1. Re:Am I reading the description incorrectly? by alizard · · Score: 1
      The people who make the decisions don't read the technical literature because they can't.

      They make decisions based on vendor presentations and canned demos.

      They also wonder why the stuff never works quite as well after they spend our money on it. Usually, they blame the IT staff they saddled with this crap to begin with.

      You don't like this? Vote for leaders who aren't lawyers.

  16. Sounds easy to fix... by hpa · · Score: 1

    Unlike all the *other* problems with biometrics, like false positives/false negatives/gelatin sheet spoofing, showing the camera a photograph, etc., this one seems like it should be easy to solve: don't store the biometric data, instead, treat it like a password and store a cryptographic hash of it instead.

    1. Re:Sounds easy to fix... by jonatha · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Unlike all the *other* problems with biometrics, like false positives/false negatives/gelatin sheet spoofing, showing the camera a photograph, etc., this one seems like it should be easy to solve: don't store the biometric data, instead, treat it like a password and store a cryptographic hash of it instead.

      The paper explicitly covers encryption, etc., of the data.

      Any system that uses the data to decide whether or not the presented (fake) pattern matches the template is subject to this attack, i.e., hashing the data won't help.

      --
      The SCO lawsuit makes me wish my company were in Utah. We need a new building.
    2. Re:Sounds easy to fix... by robindmorris · · Score: 2, Informative

      If you bothered to RTFA (I know, this is /.), you would find that this exploit does not need access to the biometric data, instead it only needs access to the scoring function.

      Put simply:
      1. start with some random face
      2. ask the system to compute the recognition score for this face
      3. make changes to the face
      4. compute the new score
      5. if the score is higher, keep the change to the face, if the score is lower, reject the change
      6. goto 3

      You'll notice that nowhere do you have to look at the biometric data itself. You only have to ask the system to compute the recognition score (for which it comes with a handy api).

      Actually, this idea is so brilliantly simple, that I'm annoyed that I didn't think of it myself (it relates closely to a bunch of work I've done on image reconstruction.

    3. Re:Sounds easy to fix... by eric256 · · Score: 1

      Actualy its saying that if you have access to the template (unencrypted) then you can reconstruct the image from that. Its also saying that if the system gives a % of how close you are then that can be used to average out an initial picture until it provides a close enough match. Both of these could be handled by one-way hashing the stored template and then only giving a yes/no answer. Though then the hash of a template generated by a persons image must be consitently perfect, so that everytime it id's you it recreates the template, hashes it, and searches for that in the dbase.

      I think some sort of video/infrared system would work better. Of course it would be much harder. Then you could weight there movement/facial expresions/temperature match. Much harder to fool than a simple image. After all you can't hold a picture up to an infared camera and expect it to work too well.
      Of course it should also be noted that any system can be broken, includeing ALL current identification systems. So its realy a matter of is this better or worse than our current methods.

      Just my thoughts.

  17. I don't have one, do you? by Qwell · · Score: 0
    encoded onto their passports

    How many of us actually HAVE passports anyways? Last time I checked, you didn't need a passport to fly within the US, to buy a car, to rent a movie...big deal I say.

    --
    As of 10/06/03, I hate COBOL developers.
    1. Re:I don't have one, do you? by BetterThanCaesar · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      And, as luck would have it, the rest of the world is very satisfied with you not having any intention of travelling outside of the US.

      --
      "Stop failing the Turing test!" -- Dilbert
    2. Re:I don't have one, do you? by warloch71 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Last time I checked, you didn't need a passport to fly within the US, to buy a car, to rent a movie...big deal I say. You DO know that Planet Earth doesn't stop at the US border, don't you ?

    3. Re:I don't have one, do you? by Qwell · · Score: 0

      I was simply pointing out that a majority of us do not have(or need) a passport and it seems the author failed to realize/mention that.

      --
      As of 10/06/03, I hate COBOL developers.
    4. Re:I don't have one, do you? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      where 'us' only appears to residents of the USA. How quaint and parochial...

    5. Re:I don't have one, do you? by dbrutus · · Score: 1

      Some of us have relatives, girlfriends, and business partners who are going to get caught up in this mess even if we ourselves don't travel past any borders.

    6. Re:I don't have one, do you? by Qwell · · Score: 0
      That's right, 'us' did mean residents of the USA. If you were the type of person that would exploit this, do you think you would you try to fake the ID of a non-US citizen? Tell me honestly, what would be the point?

      Go ahead and "-1 Flamebait" me, I think my point is simple and reasonable.

      --
      As of 10/06/03, I hate COBOL developers.
    7. Re:I don't have one, do you? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no, i was objecting to your quaint ingroup/outgroup mentality, where US is ingroup. If you'd have said most Americans (US) don't have passports, we'd have gotten your point without thinking 'yet another Yank whose world stops at his borders.'

    8. Re:I don't have one, do you? by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 1
      I have a passport, but it is long expired. Without the passport, I have been to Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas. I suppose there are places I might like to go to that require a passport, but there are far more that require a passport that I have no desire to visit.

      Meanwhile, plenty of people visit and permenantly inhabit my state (California) without out passports from their (non-USA) countries of origin just fine.

      --
      This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
  18. Hash the data by booch · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure if it's possible, since the face-recognition data probably has to be "fuzzy". But if there's any data that is exact, you could just hash that.

    --
    Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.
    1. Re:Hash the data by robindmorris · · Score: 1

      As I said in a reply to an earlier comment:
      (cut and pasted...)

      If you bothered to RTFA (I know, this is /.), you would find that this exploit does not need access to the biometric data, instead it only needs access to the scoring function.

      Put simply:
      1. start with some random face
      2. ask the system to compute the recognition score for this face
      3. make changes to the face
      4. compute the new score
      5. if the score is higher, keep the change to the face, if the score is lower, reject the change
      6. goto 3

      You'll notice that nowhere do you have to look at the biometric data itself. You only have to ask the system to compute the recognition score (for which it comes with a handy api).

    2. Re:Hash the data by p3d0 · · Score: 1

      I don't understand. What part of the problem would hashing solve? (Did you read the paper?)

      --
      Patrick Doyle
      I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
  19. or... by SoSueMe · · Score: 1
    Rumors out of Europe tell of Eminem dressing his hotel room in tinfoil in order to thwart people from eavesdropping on his cellphone calls.

    From TechTV
  20. Joe Average User... by Greyfox · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Is going to be awfully put out when the authorities hold him because someone with his biometric pattern did soemthing highly illegal.

    He will be in the position of being assumed guilty because everyone know that biometrics don't lie and are completely infallable. Thanks to legislation like the DMCA, no one will testify that the systems are, indeed, very easy to compromise. It'll be illegal to talk about those aspects of security. Not that the law has ever stopped the black hats...

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

    1. Re:Joe Average User... by Akardam · · Score: 1

      Testifying about the system's ease of comprimise is entirely different from trying to bust some guy with a cast iron alabi, and trust me, it will happen. All the sooner if it's someone high profile, like a congressmonkey or star athlete or actor. At that point, the system's falability will have to be questioned, and once it is, every case after will have the defense scrambling to cite Senator Bob vs. BioID Ltd.. This is also another reason why people will always remain in the identification equasion for the forseeable future, at least until a computer can say "Gee, Mr. Bob, you're a few inches shorter then whence I saw you last".

    2. Re:Joe Average User... by Poeir · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Alphonse Bertillon advanced a system which would provide "unique" identification by taking measurements of various bones throughout the body. In 1903, two prisoners at the same facility were found to have almost identical Bertillion measurements, and the system was more or less scrapped. Modern facial recognition systems work in a matter similar to the Bertillion one, by comparing the ratio/measurement between various components of the face, like eyes, ears, nose, et cetera.

      Sir Francis Galton's work regarding fingerprints superceded the Bertillion system, and even that has shown some weaknesses. Overall, biometrics do not appear to be as secure as one would expect to me.

      --
      Sigs are like bumper stickers.
  21. why passports at all? by civilengineer · · Score: 1, Interesting

    With this kind of technology (biometrics), the need for passport should be eliminated, right?
    A machine should look into you eye and make sure you are genuine, eliminating the need for a passport.

    --

    New year Resolution: Don't change sig this year
  22. Nah, it's just backasswards by Julian+Morrison · · Score: 1

    Means you can't identify a fake, starting from scratch, that gives a valid match to the "template". Only, now, turns out that you can after all.

  23. you cant get a one-ace master template by QEDog · · Score: 1
    There is research proving this wrong: www.timecube.com

    "Time Cube proves a 1 face god impossible, due to 4 corner face metamorphic human - baby, child, parent and grandparent faces."

    --
    "There is no teacher but the enemy."-Mazer Rackham
    1. Re:you cant get a one-ace master template by ronaldb64 · · Score: 1

      Can somebody please moderate this as funny? If there is research on that website, it must be buried in the enormous flood of words that tells the reader how stupid they are if they don't accept that Gene Ray is the most intelligent being on earth. LOL.

      --
      There's no place like 127.0.0.1
  24. Not a surprise by Henry+V+.009 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Anyone who has done work on computer vision would have guessed this to be so. What would interest me is in how it would be possible to exploit the algorithms, i.e., how bad of a picture can you get away with? Certain images that might not look anything like a face to you or me will quite possibly be able to fool the system.

    The passport angle is probably a red herring though. The unreliability of photo identification is already known. Identity theft is simple and easy. Hell, here in New Mexico, we've already been the first state to accept 'Matricula Consular' cards as valid ID for driver's licenses. Matricula Consular cards, of course, are given out by Mexican embassies to undocumented Mexicans living in the US. By 'undocumented,' I mean illegal, of course. Check out the immigration reform site www.vdare.com for some more information on the subject.

  25. Biometrics 101 by stupendou · · Score: 2, Interesting

    While this is an interesting expolit, the sky isn't falling. Any and all biometric systems can be exploited, and in similar ways.

    However, for this particular exploit to affect passport security and the like, the entire system would have to be automated, so that there would be no one to notice the perpetrator was holding a photo of someone else in front of his face as he walked by.

    To guard against exploits like these in totally automated systems, the data that is fed into the matching system should be digitally signed, so that it is clear where the data is coming from
    (e.g. a real fingerprint sensor, etc.).

    Even so, a fake face or a fake finger can indeed spoof many biometric systems. Luckily, border crossings and airport security has humans in the loop to prevent these kind of exploits (or to accept bribes to allow them!).

    1. Re:Biometrics 101 by michaeljthieme · · Score: 1

      This study is interesting, and there are probably some severe implications for vendors. However biometric templates are NOT going to be stored on passports. Biometric *images* are - definitely face, potentially also fingerprint and iris. ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) establishes these standards; they also determine the layout, data formats, etc of physical passports. A country can decide not to go along with ICAO recommendations but that is unlikely. So if one can read the data on the new "biometric" passports, one would be reading images, not templates.

  26. Ident-i-Eeze by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny


    There were so many different ways in
    which you were required to provide absolute proof of your iden-
    tity these days that life could easily become extremely tiresome
    just from that factor alone, never mind the deeper existential
    problems of trying to function as a coherent consciousness in an
    epistemologically ambiguous physical universe. Just look at cash
    point machines, for instance. Queues of people standing around
    waiting to have their fingerprints read, their retinas scanned, bits
    of skin scraped from the nape of the neck and undergoing instant
    (or nearly instant - a good six or seven seconds in tedious
    reality) genetic analysis, then having to answer trick questions
    about members of their family they didn't even remember they
    had, and about their recorded preferences for tablecloth colours.
    And that was just to get a bit of spare cash for the weekend. If
    you were trying to raise a loan for a jetcar, sign a missile treaty
    or pay an entire restaurant bill things could get really trying.

    Hence the Ident-i-Eeze. This encoded every single piece of
    information about you, your body and your life into one all-
    purpose machine-readable card that you could then carry around
    in your wallet, and therefore represented technology's greatest
    triumph to date over both itself and plain common sense.

    Douglas Adams

    Mostly Harmless

  27. RTFA yourself by MarcoAtWork · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You don't understand what the article is talking about. When you enroll in a biometric system, the system itself -doesn't- match based on your picture, but on a 'template' which is created by taking your standard data and performing certain destructive operations to arrive to a much smaller 'template' which can still be used to identify you.

    This is very similar to the one-way hashing that happens with unix passwords, only that in this case the hashing is 'lossier' so you have 'confidence scores' instead of a black/white answer.

    The article shows that given this 'hashed' value you can recreate an image that has a good chance of not only being authenticated by the same system/algorithm (which already should be very hard, given the one-way nature of the templatization) =BUT= also by different systems!

    It also is really interesting how if you have access to the 'confidence score' outputted by the recognizer, you can take arbitrary images and blending/averaging them again come up with an image that works.

    This is definitely not useless news and will have quite some implications.

    --
    -- the cake is a lie
    1. Re:RTFA yourself by randyest · · Score: 1

      I guess this is a meta-meta-RTFA, but you seem to have missed a key point in the article (though you clearly read at least some of it -- kudos for that).

      The exploit requires both the template and (repeated) access to score results (i.e., the evaluation / matching algorithm). The template itself is insufficient as the exploit depends on iterative image manupulations and "hotter, warmer, cooler" feeback from the evaluation algorithm to work.

      So, although you seem to get this in your final paragraphs (though your "also" seems to imply that this is an additional, separate thing, while I read the FA to say the scores are an inherent need). In any case, your earlier statements don't seem to take this into account. Such as your UNIX password analogy, which would only be applicable if failed password entries gave you some quantitative feedback like "you're about 50% on that one", "nope, worse this time -- only 45% of a real password", etc. instead of a simple "sorry." or "invalid login".

      --
      everything in moderation
    2. Re:RTFA yourself by dbrutus · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Did you notice that nobody's using biometric systems that aren't also sold to companies. All you really need is to have a front company that says it needs a secure biometric company id system. The same people that sold the US their system will happily sell you an exact copy scaled down to one site. Once you own the system, you can run it to your heart's content. You can get data off of passports and create proper fakes at your leisure.

      Total cost for piercing the false security of the system? Way to little to be a barrier to ObL.

    3. Re:RTFA yourself by MarcoAtWork · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I originally thought the same, but have a look at slide 15, the researcher says:

      'Access to templates OR match scores implies access to biometric sample image' (emphasis mine)

      I originally thought that you needed both, but after re-reading the presentation a few times it seems the researcher has -TWO- different exploits, one which regenerates things from the biometric data (samples not shown) and the other which takes arbitrary pics and by using the match percentage iterates a few times until it finds something that passes.

      If I misunderstood and you need both things, please correct me.

      --
      -- the cake is a lie
  28. How to fix the problem by Atario · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Make the cameras use x-ray backscattering (as in the earlier story today) of your face. Then in order to spoof the system, a printout of your picture (generated from the hash or not) would not work -- you'd have to build something that recreates your x-ray backscatter and show that to the camera. (I'm assuming that would be much more difficult, like making a sculpture out of meat or something -- anyone in the know wish to shoot down my theory?)

    Of course, then there's the issue of getting x-rayed in the face every time you walk in the door...

    --
    "A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
    1. Re:How to fix the problem by agrippa_cash · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Or some face topography scheme (IR distance sensors etc...), or make people turn their head so that the computer has to validate x number of positions between a frontal and quarter profile. Thermal is too easy to fool. No doubt these methods also could be fooled and likely sucessfully reversed as well. But the more complicated the verification, the more complicated circumvention will have to be. It appears that the currenet scheme is easier to circumvent than impliment.

    2. Re:How to fix the problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good idea, but I think it could still be spoofed.

      All you would need to do is etch some metal (or plastic) with an image that looks right to the backscatter rays.

      Of course it's not like you can go buy a printer to do something like that, but nonetheless, it could be fooled fairly easy.

  29. So let me guess by curtlewis · · Score: 1

    A photo of the person held up to the facial recognition camera passes the test?

  30. Something i've always wondered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Personally I use BioPassword

    Here's something i've wondered about situations like this..

    So you're saying that out of fear that someone will get hold of your password, you've set up your computer to allow or reject your access based on the hard-to-mimick natural typing pattern that you use to enter the password.

    What happens if you break your hand?

    1. Re:Something i've always wondered by mgcsinc · · Score: 1

      Two things; one, I'm not so worried about strangers as those who coinhabit a dwelling with me! secondly, there is a traditional multi-password bypass feature for BioPassword...

    2. Re:Something i've always wondered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are a paranoid twerp.

    3. Re:Something i've always wondered by mgcsinc · · Score: 1

      You ever come back to your comp to find lovely little treats in your history folder?

    4. Re:Something i've always wondered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, suck it up and admit that it was your pr0n in the history folder. Your mother doesn't read slashdot anyway.

  31. Not as significant as you might think by swillden · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This isn't such a big deal for face recognition systems, because face recognition systems suck at identifying people anyway. Why? First a little tereminology:

    With any biometric matcher you have to define a match "tolerance", which defines how close a pair of templates (usually one from a database and one from a livescan) have to be before they're considered to be a match. Set this tolerance too "loose" and you get lots of false positives (matches that shouldn't match), set it too "tight" and you get the opposite, false negatives. The tolerance setting where you get roughly the same number of errors each way is called the equal error point, and the error rate is called the equal error rate (abbreviated ERR for some unfathomable reason).

    Well, all current face recognition systems have an ERR that is too high to be useful in nearly any situation, even when used for identity verification, as opposed to the much-harder problem of identification (verification: I say I'm Bill Gates, and the system agrees; identification: The system says I'm Bill Gates, not RMS or anyone else). It's possible that in the future this will change, of course.

    However, this doesn't really matter because we already have ready access to an excellent and very widely available face recognition system: the Mark I eyeball. Millions of years of evolution have made people extremely good at identifying and matching human faces. What people aren't so good at (with notable exceptions) is matching a face against a database of thousands of faces they've seen only once, and *that* is something that face recognition systems can do extremely well. They may not be able to decide which faces are a "match", but they can do an excellent job of finding the *closest* faces, which can then be reviewed by the super-duper face-matching algorithm contained in the average person's head.

    When automated face recognition is used in that sort of context, spoofs like this one are unlikely to be very useful; if you want to impersonate someone you'd better get a face that's good enough to fool another human. It's doable, certainly, but much harder. And holding a laptop screen in front of your face is likely to raise some suspicions.

    --
    Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    1. Re:Not as significant as you might think by Jasin+Natael · · Score: 1

      Yeah, yeah. That's what they said about handwriting. Oh, wait. They were right. Maybe I'm agreeing with you.

      Just like my beloved Apple Newton -- It got the handwriting right 98% of the time, but for the other 2%, you'd find yourself double-tapping the word to see what else it thought you might have written. I'd be surprised to learn that this isn't the way most firms are implementing the technology. After all, "Blocks more than 98% of intruders" isn't a great advertising slogan unless you plan to use another system to back up that 2%.

      To sum up: You'll probably see it used in non-critical places (like advertisements), as supplementary ID (like at an ATM, but you'll still need your PIN), and as an entertainment enhancement (your TV recognizing who's in the room and recommending shows everyone is likely to enjoy). Just don't use it to lock your car, and certainly don't deploy it at work unless there's a real brain behind it.

      --Jasin Natael

      --
      True science means that when you re-evaluate the evidence, you re-evaluate your faith.
  32. Better Than by somethinghollow · · Score: 3, Funny

    At least I don't have to cut someone's fingers off/eyes out/head off/etc. to get past these types of security measures any more.

    Whew! What a relief.

  33. Re:The results just came in... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    too long; didn't read.

  34. Yo' Mama's So Ugly... by sbillard · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Yo mama's so ugly, she made the face recog system halt

    Yo mama's so ugly, they use her face to stamp out gorilla cookies (Thanks Red Fox)

    Yo mama's so ugly, you could hear the face recog cameras scream.

    Yo mama's so ugly, when you brought her on the plane, they made you check your bag.

    Yo mama's so ugly, she made Medusa's snakes turn to stone.

    *_ducks and covers_*

    1. Re:Yo' Mama's So Ugly... by shadowbearer · · Score: 1

      Yo mama's so ugly, the T1000 broke down and cried... :-)

      SB

      --
      It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
    2. Re:Yo' Mama's So Ugly... by VCAGuy · · Score: 0, Offtopic
      A few more:

      Yo mama's so ugly, the Dept. of Homeland Security screeners refuse to run a backscatter x-ray on her.

      Yo mama's so ugly, CAPPS has a warning on her: "may induce vomiting."

      Yo mama's so ugly, the retinal scanners tell her to step back.

      Yo mama's so ugly, fingerprint scanners file restraining orders to keep her from touching them.

      "Thank you! I'll be here 'till Tuesday."

      --
      Q: "Why do sound techs say 'check 1, 2'?"
      A: "Cause if they could count any higher they'd be lighting techs."
  35. One to one relationship / pigeonhole principle by zerofoo · · Score: 1

    Devices like this can NEVER be used for personal identification unless a one to one relationship between a face recognition template and the person can be mathematicaly proven.

    Much like a hashing algorithm (and the pigeonhole principle) if two items can hash to the same spot, then the algorithm is broken; or in this instance two people look alike and the computer can't tell them apart.

    This will keep algorithms guys busy for a while.

    -ted

    1. Re:One to one relationship / pigeonhole principle by awol · · Score: 1

      Much like a hashing algorithm (and the pigeonhole principle) if two items can hash to the same spot, then the algorithm is broken; or in this instance two people look alike and the computer can't tell them apart.

      Er, actually no. Hashing two templates to the same key is not evidence of a broken algorithm as long as some of a whole range of other factors can be used to "work" the collision. In particular you want the algorithm to return an even distribution accross the key space and even more particularly yuou do not want similar faces to hash to similar keys, that is a sign of a potentially broken algorithm. The trade off is keyspace size versus computational complexity (and the range of factors like non stochastic key mapping and keyspace coverage). So for example if you hash the faced independent of skin colour, and eye colour (not the best but what the hey) then when you got the collision you could store those metrics with the template to allow for the more detailed comparison to be performed. Thus if dissimialr faces hash to the same key, you could easily have a factor of ten in the keyspace and still easily identify different faces.

      Having said that, the discovery of the hashing process is where the difficulty lies and that ain't my area.

      --
      "The first thing to do when you find yourself in a hole is stop digging."
    2. Re:One to one relationship / pigeonhole principle by p3d0 · · Score: 1
      Wow, that statement is so ridiculous, I don't even know where to begin.

      You armchair computer scientists need to give the researchers just a little credit, and benefit of the doubt, especially if you haven't read the paper.

      --
      Patrick Doyle
      I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
    3. Re:One to one relationship / pigeonhole principle by zerofoo · · Score: 1

      I agree the algorithm isn't necessarily broken. Every hash i've ever coded needs some way to handle collisions.

      The difficulty is getting that elusive differentiating data from a face. Obviously if a human can tell apart two faces, then there must be a way to create two different facial templates.

      The article shows that the reverse is true. The authors could reconstruct the face from an image template. I didn't go deeply into the math, but it does actually look like a one to one process (i.e. one template did not result in two possible images).

      -ted

  36. Biometrics are the visual equivalent of soundex by mikeophile · · Score: 1
    I'm guessing that the these biometric template could misidentify people that look quite different to a human observer.

    For instance, if she had a little less facial hair, my aunt's bouffant hairdo under a scarf might give her the same biometric as Osama bin Laden.

  37. Frequent changes... by Pettifogger · · Score: 1

    For some reason, I don't think biometric face scans would hold up in Hollywood (well, Los Angeles for that matter) very well. Having lived there, people's faces just seem to keep changing. And so do hair and eye colors. It's almost like a hobby for some people.

    --

    IAAL

    1. Re:Frequent changes... by The+Creator · · Score: 1

      Well, you are supposed to change your password often.

      --

      FRA: STFU GTFO
  38. Reset by jabbadabbadoo · · Score: 1

    How to reset a biometric system? Show it a picture of CowboyNeal.

  39. Yes: Re:Am I reading the description incorrectly? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    If I have copy of a template. I don't know who it is. No name or anything else.


    If the template were "non-identifiable," there would be not way for me to identify who the template belongs to from the template. If you have the template, and you have jim standing there, you can say "yep, that's jim" ... but with just the template, I can't say "that looks like jim."


    The claim is that, with just the template (and confidence feedback), you can work backwards and figure out what the person looks like.

  40. has the professor been arrested... by u19925 · · Score: 0

    under DMCA (what else)?

    1. Re:has the professor been arrested... by JohnnyCannuk · · Score: 1

      American law, Canadian researcher.

      Figure it out.

      --
      Never by hatred has hatred been appeased, only by kindness - the Buddha
    2. Re:has the professor been arrested... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He's Canadian, so if he ever comes into the US, he would probably be arrested for violating the DMCA.

  41. Pattern recognition software for the military? by ratfynk · · Score: 1

    It is interesting that the US military just purchased 800 million plus worth of software licences from Redmond. I hope they are not planning on using MS spaghetti code for mission critical security aps that use pattern recogniton code.
    Bin Laden might win the war. Especially if they install Windows media player anywhere in their networks!

    --
    OH THE SHAME I fell off the wagon and use sigs again!
  42. Gee by The+Metahacker · · Score: 1

    This is a big problem. not. Just take the data and push it through a one-way hash (like the aforementioned password transformation) before encoding it on the card.

    TMH

    1. Re:Gee by swordgeek · · Score: 1

      Great. And then we'll go back to the OLD method, of recreating faces from pictures of people.
      Visual or at least optical biometrics are a disaster. Anyone (including government agencies) who think otherwise will end up getting in trouble by it.

      --

      "People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
    2. Re:Gee by eric256 · · Score: 1

      Heres an idea that just occured to me. Use two cameras in tandem, spaced a couple inches apart to give you a depth analysis as well. Harder to fool, and you can't just use a picture. It would have to be a full blown model.

      Or even better. Dual Cameras with Optical and Infared Capabilities (and audio) captureing the person saying a pass phrase "I am joe." One-way Hash all the data into the system and use that.

      You could even hash the audio and video seperate so that a head injury or a cold wouldn't lock you out, or just have a guard to let those people pass.

      Well you get the idea. Any thoughts?

    3. Re:Gee by spydir31 · · Score: 1
      Use two cameras in tandem, spaced a couple inches apart to give you a depth analysis as well. Harder to fool, and you can't just use a picture. It would have to be a full blown model.
      Ever seen one of those three dimensional prints, the ones that use refracting plastic triangles to split the image?
    4. Re:Gee by eric256 · · Score: 1

      3 dimensional print?? like a hologram. I don't understand. Do you have more info? a link?

    5. Re:Gee by spydir31 · · Score: 1

      sorry, couldn't find anything
      It's just a picture, printed in strips, with trianglar plastic lens over them to give stereo seperation.

    6. Re:Gee by eric256 · · Score: 1

      Ah. Yea I heard about those a while back. Frensel lenses basicaly. Yea I suppose that would fool it. Thats why I also included thermal imageing. (maybe a different post.) Either way any system is foolable. Its just a question of how bad it is. :-)

  43. How to beat a fingerprint scanner by biostatman · · Score: 1, Troll

    Breathe on the glass sensor to get the outline of the last person's print. Will fool many systems if the previous print was authorized. (Read this in the economist a couple of weeks ago...)

    A bit OT, but thought others might find this interesting. Please don't let the DMCA dogs loose on me.

    --
    For the love of $DEITY, loose != not win!!!!!
    1. Re:How to beat a fingerprint scanner by swordgeek · · Score: 1

      Lifting fingerprints from a fingerprint scanner? I'm afraid that they're not quite the clear smooth glasslike surface that would make such an idea feasible.

      If a system lets something like this by, then it's a broken system. That's all.

      --

      "People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
  44. Links lost... by joeytsai · · Score: 1

    I remember reading an article (possibly from here) about the challenges facial recognition systems faced, in particular comparing the facilities in the human brain. It had very interesting examples, for instance showing only a mouth and chin, but even with just that information, most people recognized it as Julia Roberts. They also altered a picture of Clinton and Gore but switched their mouths, something again that everyone notices but that a computer would have a very hard time picking up on. Finally, they also just had a grid of pictures, shrunk to 12x12 pixels, and even with that little data, your brain can easily discern who the pictures belong to. I'd like to look at that article again, would anybody know the link?

    --
    http://www.talknerdy.org
  45. Everyone has missed the point by SiliconEntity · · Score: 5, Informative

    Every comment I have read has missed the point!

    This is not an exploit designed to show that biometric systems can be fooled or that you could create some kind of fake image that would match an existing one.

    The whole point is that this shows that biometric templates are privacy-sensitive. Previously it was thought that they could be stored and promulgated without interfering with anyone's privacy, because it was thought to be infeasible to start from the template and reconstruct personally identifiable information about the subject.

    The new paper shows that this is not true; from the templates, you can reconstruct an identifiable picture of the individual. That means that, for example, if you had a bunch of templates of people who went in for an AIDS test, you could re-create pictures of the people who went in, adequate to recognize individuals.

    This would therefore interfere with the privacy of those individuals. And that implies that templates need to be subject to the same kind of privacy restrictions as other forms of personally identifying information, a standard to which they have not traditionally been held.

    And that's the point of the paper.

    1. Re:Everyone has missed the point by stupendou · · Score: 1
      The whole point is that this shows that biometric templates are privacy-sensitive. Previously it was thought that they could be stored and promulgated without interfering with anyone's privacy, because it was thought to be infeasible to start from the template and reconstruct personally identifiable information about the subject.

      No one in the biometrics industry ever thought that!

  46. Simple algorithm. It works. by jetmarc · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The algorithm they used is simple. They use the face recognition
    system as "oracle" and present different images until the match
    is achieved. The different images are not chosen at random, but
    rather evolutionary. That is, a selection of images is presented,
    and the best (highest score) is chosen. Recursively, new selections
    are derived from the best image, and again presented to the oracle.

    According to the article 24,000 images are necessary to achieve
    convergence, when the initial images were specifically chosen to
    NOT be visually similar to the "target" image.

    Some oracles can't be questionned 24,000 times - eg at an airport
    or an ATM machine. You might become arrested long before finished.

    However, often press releases indicate which company designed the
    software for a particular implentation of face recognition. You
    can easily purchase other software of the same company (or find
    an OEM product) and thus have the same (or very similar) oracle
    on your desk at home. There you can do the 24,000 iterations to
    get ahold of the "good" image and then proceed to remodel your
    face or whatever way you intend to "present" the image to the
    real face recognition system.

    In my opinion, biometrics just doesn't work for security. Because
    everyone is open to see the datasets.

    Just look at those stupid press releases of Siemens/Infineon, who
    make high-payed security engineers invent ATM cards with finger
    print sensors. Owners finger print => money from ATM. Where does
    owner leave his finger print, when handling the card? Couldn't be
    on the very ATM card, possibly?

    Acceptable security requires

    a) something you have, and

    b) something you know.

    When the item you have is stolen, the thief lacks the information
    you know. And vice-versa, when the secret is learned (eg shoulder
    surfing at ATM), the item you have still misses to complete the
    electronic robbery.

    Biometrics is something you have, not something you know. That is
    the key thing to learn here!

    It can be copied, without your noticing, but that doesn't make it
    category b). It still is something you have, because everybody has
    access to it when he's physically near to you. You can't just shut
    up to make it stay secret.

    Therefore, biometrics won't (ever) work as long as it's coupled with
    other category a) stuff. A biometric dataset can possibly replace a
    physical token, but it can NOT replace a PIN code.

    I'm happy that this is once again demonstrated, with press coverage.

    Marc

    1. Re:Simple algorithm. It works. by stupendou · · Score: 1

      >Biometrics is something you have, not something you >know. That is
      > the key thing to learn here!

      No. Biometrics is something you *are*. A card
      or other token is something you have. A password is something you know. They are all distinct and can all be used together.

    2. Re:Simple algorithm. It works. by FreezerJam · · Score: 2, Insightful

      >No. Biometrics is something you *are*.
      >A card or other token is something you have.

      Your finger and your face are "something you are".

      But the biometric is something you have.

      I can't "be you". But I can have your measurements. You are not your measurements.

    3. Re:Simple algorithm. It works. by ksni · · Score: 1

      I beg to differ on the point: "A biometric dataset can possibly replace a physical token, but it can NOT replace a PIN code."
      A UK based ATM implementation using IRIS technology used cards with no pin and worked very well. The token is the the 'involved party' indentifier that provides context and limitation for iris presentation.

  47. Easily fixed by afidel · · Score: 0

    Just check for thermal patterns, most CCD's used for image recognition can see near infra-red so just check to see if the image is a person with a pulse. A piece of paper isn't going to give off heat like a person does =)

    --
    There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
    1. Re:Easily fixed by NivekEnterprises · · Score: 1

      If the picure is held up in front of a persons face, or some other heat emitting object, then you would get heat. Not that easy of a fix

    2. Re:Easily fixed by p3d0 · · Score: 1
      In future, please at least read part of the paper before you start the armchair comp sci routine.

      Honestly, yours is not a bad idea, but it's totally unrelated to the paper.

      --
      Patrick Doyle
      I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
    3. Re:Easily fixed by afidel · · Score: 1

      Only where there is contact, and if you mold the image to contact your face in more places you distort it to the point that it no longer matches the image map.

      --
      There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
    4. Re:Easily fixed by afidel · · Score: 1

      I did read the paper, my solution solves the first problem presented (outwitting the system) but does not solve the second. The second is really less of a real world problem because most systems store an actual photos and other information about a person, not just their ID mask. Compromising the database in those cases would give much more than trying to reverse the algorithm to get a rough picture of a person.

      --
      There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
    5. Re:Easily fixed by p3d0 · · Score: 1

      Ok, now that's more like it. :-)

      --
      Patrick Doyle
      I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
    6. Re:Easily fixed by NivekEnterprises · · Score: 1

      Depending on the syphistication of the machinery you are probably right, but you could keep the paper up against your skin (e.g against your stomach) and when you pull it out to show it to the copmuter it would still have the heat from your body.

  48. Not Surprising In Ottawa by Synesthesiatic · · Score: 2, Funny

    A couple of decades ago Ottawa was the world's coldest capital city (I forget what it is now). The saying goes that come it's impossible to tell people apart, because everyone's wearing parkas. Now there's a challenge for facial recognition!

    1. Re:Not Surprising In Ottawa by JohnnyCannuk · · Score: 1

      Flamebait?

      As a resident of Ottawa, I can say this is true...really! It's actally rather insightful. From January to March here your only like to see the tip of someone's nose, as the rest of your face is (and should be) covered by parkas, touques, belaclavas or scarves.

      Facial recognition biometrics would never be used here for that very reason

      --
      Never by hatred has hatred been appeased, only by kindness - the Buddha
  49. Re:Thank god! by robindmorris · · Score: 1

    Ah, mention the DMCA and get modded up... You don't need to break the law to exploit this. You only need to make api calls to the public api of the recognition system. It's all spelled out in the article.

  50. Re:The solution: store biometric data on a Java Ca by jetmarc · · Score: 1

    > In this way the biometric data is never exposed directly to the outside world, so one
    > need not worry about it getting leaked to the "bad guys" even if your passport were stolen. ..except of course, when the JavaCard can be used as an oracle by the attacker.
    Note that in the article they did not use any reference to the original image
    or to the dataset that the face recognition software creates from it. They rather
    chose 30 different (visually not related) images and then evolutionary selected
    the best fit.

    As soon as your JavaCard is going to be universal (and serve multiple purposes
    with varying degree of security) it has to return a "score" (rather than a yes/no
    decision). And nothing more than that very score is used by the attack, go figure.

    To put this into a real world example: imagine you use an ATM JavaCard with face
    recognition. Insert card, present your face into the cam lens, and enter how
    much money you need. Now a computer nerd "finds" your card. He emulates an ATM
    terminal to the card and presents a random face to the card. Recursively, he
    optimizes it according to the article until he achieves a "good enough" score.
    He prints that out on paper, and travels to Mexico - slowly, by car, doing a stop
    at every damn biometrics-enabled ATM he can find. Heck, even the security cam
    recordings provide no more evidence than a fake (still image) phantom photo of
    YOU!

    Marc

  51. Think of what might happen to body parts by gotr00t · · Score: 3, Insightful
    When will people get concerned that their body parts are now vulnerable? Desperate criminals who want to infiltrate, or governments, for that matter, would find it rather suitable to simply kill a person and remove their face, eyes, fingers, etc., to use in a biometrics device.

    This is even easier to compromise than having a keycard or something, as the individual could at least hide it somewhere. They CAN'T hide their face without

  52. Thank you by p3d0 · · Score: 1
    Finally, the voice of sanity. From someone who apparently read the paper.

    Someone give the man some mod points.

    --
    Patrick Doyle
    I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
  53. yahoo biometrics listserv by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    I think all these comments are very interesting, and would like to invite those of you with a continuing interest in the subject to join the yahoo biometrics group.

    Go to http:\\groups.yahoo.com\groups\biometrics

    and follow the links to join. The listserv is open, you can select various email delivery options, and you can hide your email address if you choose.

    Cheers

    The yahoo biometrics group moderator

  54. Not anything like a password hash by lkaos · · Score: 4, Informative

    A useful password hash (at least one that isn't considered to be plain-text equivalent) is a cryptographic hash. A cryptographic hash is one thought to be np-hard.

    For instance, take this simple hash:

    uint32_t hash;

    for (size_t i=0; i < str.length(); i++) {
    hash += str[i];
    }

    Given an input of say, foobar, one would get a hash of 633. Now, if I start with an arbitrary password of say, google, I get a hash of 637.

    Since I know that slight adjustments to the word, produce slight differences, I know that I can just start moving letters one space down the alphabet until I find a matching value.

    Lets say I choose:

    google -} 637
    foogle -} 636
    fnogle -} 635
    fnngle -} 634
    fnnfle -} 633 *bingo*

    So know I've successfully "exploited" this password protection mechanism.. This is why it's referred to as plain-text equivalent.

    A cryptographic hash though has the interesting proper that a small change results in a unpredictable different. For instance, in the same example you might get:

    google -} 3453
    foogle -} 234543
    fnogle -} 234
    fnngle -} 23425434
    fnnfle -} 53424 ...

    There's no reason biometrics can't be cryptographically strong. It's just that the algorithms currently being aren't. That's no big news for anyone with even half a clue stick.

    --
    int func(int a);
    func((b += 3, b));
    1. Re:Not anything like a password hash by WNight · · Score: 1

      The problem is that passwords are an all or nothing. "google" works "goofle" does not. There's no hint.

      Biometric systems however supply a score. If password systems did this you crack then like this... If the password is "aaaa" and you first try "mmmm" it'll (let's say) give a score of 50. So you try "mmma" and "mmmz" and see which one gives the highest score. The first would give 62.5% and the second would be 37.5%, so you'd stick with the first and you'd make another change.

      With biometrics this is like showing it a standard face and getting a score. Then raising the cheekbones and trying again, then widening the nose, and so on. See how to change things to get closer to a match.

      You know how they crack ATM codes in the movies? Where all the numbers change randomly, but then they "get" a digit, and then another, etc... Passwords don't work this way because there's no way to tell if a given character is correct without getting the whole thing right. Biometrics let you solve a piece at a time.

      What this is equivalent to is the master-key problem from a month or two ago.

  55. Oh, really? Didn't Roger Wilco already do this? by willith · · Score: 3, Funny

    "He developed an algorithm which allows a fairly high quality image of a person to be regenerated from a face recognition template..."

    This kinda reminds me of the part in Space Quest III, where you gain access to the restricted area inside ScumSoft by holding up a xeroxed picture of the CEO's face to the facial recognition scanner.

  56. privacy issues aside... by JW+Troll · · Score: 1

    If the password can't be changed, then the corollary is that biometrics are no good for authentication; however, they excel at providing a convenient method of tracking/auditing provided that one cares little for security.
    If I were the marketing guy, I'd pitch it that we're all willing to trade convenience for security - forget about the privacy issues.

    --
    just like the humble blood clot... turboporsche@telus.net
  57. Yes, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, there aren't any perfect systems. However, if your password or passkey is cracked, you invalidate the old password/passkey and get a new one. Consequence: You're screwed only while you don't notice that your password/passkey is cracked.

    If your BioPassword is cracked, there's nothing you can do about it. Consequence: You're screwed for life.

  58. Re:The solution: store biometric data on a Java Ca by Cthefuture · · Score: 1

    As soon as your JavaCard is going to be universal (and serve multiple purposes with varying degree of security) it has to return a "score" (rather than a yes/no decision).

    Eh? I understand the part about being able to use a score to slowly converge on a working template, but that's not the way any smartcard I've seen works.

    I've never worked with a card that returned a score. The biometric template is instead used like a PIN, it either unlocks the card or not and the card determines that. When the card is unlocked it then authenticates in a traditional manner (usually a standard public key, RSA or whatever). In other words, the biometric template unlocks the private key. Note that no private data is ever read off the card, everything is done on-card.

    When you're talking smartcards, it's not the client application that determines the security level. Normally it's the card that determines if you've passed all the security criteria. Hence smart card.

    --
    The ratio of people to cake is too big
  59. Sorry, not comparatively hard by mattr · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Nope, check out this.

    An associate of mine runs a small factory in Japan where they make 3d-printers, much of the technology is from Texas-based DTM. Can't find their homepage, I think they might be owned or were by BFGoodrich. Many companies use their Sinterstation, which uses a laser to fuse nylon or metal powder deposited in thin layers inside the production bay.

    The machines are I believe in the hundreds of thousands of dollars each but they are used to make prototypes like mobile phone shells, or molds as for experimental automotive parts.

    Anyway nylon is easy, but they also have a rapidsteel process and the holy grail I understand is titanium, which would allow you to create surgical implants like joint replacements. As you can see in the link above, you can already pretty easily produce a 3d model of your skull from Cat-scan tomography. I've only seen plastic versions, though they might be more appropriate to trying to mimic x-ray backscatter from bone, and much cheaper than going through the trouble of making a mold, pouring metal, and finishing it. Hospitals are probably a lot easier to penetrate than these biometric systems. Come to think of it, you could skip the biometric penetration and just use anthropological techniques to build a face over the skull based on known data about skin depth at different parts of the skull. Painting surface features based on a pictures taken with a telephoto lens would also be cheap compared to the price tag mentioned in this thread for biometric analysis equipment.

    1. Re:Sorry, not comparatively hard by cesspool · · Score: 1

      If you were going to fool with that much money, why not an automated latex spraying chamber, input your desired face and the "3d printer" spits out a hollywood style latex face overlay.

  60. Regarding eyes by Merk · · Score: 1

    I remember reading a paper about biometric identification using the iris. The bit I remember is that it is really easy to tell if the eye you're scanning is alive or not. For example, as part of the scanning process the machine just needs to go from dark to bright in a short time. If it does that and the pupil doesn't narrow then the eye isn't attached to a living body. I can't speak for other body parts, but it's unlikely anybody will pluck out your eyes and scan them.

  61. the intent of Palladium by alizard · · Score: 1
    is to protect Microsoft and DRM customers from the public.

    Who's going to protect either MS or us?

    As I understand it, X-Box was intended as a testbed for "Trustworthy Computing". A small bunch of dedicated fanatics cracked it.

    How many million people are going to try to make a rep for themselves by trying to crack Palladium / TCPA, and will all of them be "good guys" who at least will let us who subscribe to BugTraq and Full Disclosure know where the security holes are?

  62. Read the technical paper by alizard · · Score: 1
    Decryption isn't necessary, all the cracker needs to get is the "confidence level" that the image submitted to the sensors matches the image hash in the database.

    I don't think this can be worked around in any way that winds up with a usable product.

  63. i disagree by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For example, you probably a large supply of fingers (about ten), so it doesn't matter if a few get compromised.

    try 8 fingers, thumbs r not fingers

    1. Re:i disagree by Borg_5x8 · · Score: 1

      Yes they are, it's the name of the digit that's opposable.

  64. Biggest Lie of all time: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    'Hi, I'm from the government and I am here to help you...'

    To err is human,
    to really screw things up requires a government computer...

  65. Biometrics: Read Bio - "Living" by MadCow-ard · · Score: 1

    It is not a pure fingerprint reader anymore, it is a "living specimen" and fingerprint reader. Sure the old ones are still sold, but they are considered low end. If any real security is needed, the latest generation will detect living versus dead. The previous post mentions the same with iris readers. The same is true of retinal, hand geometry, and voice print (theoretically by multiple passes). The only one I'm not sure of is facial geometry, but I would assume that digital video from which its taken would clear up the issue of dead or alive ;-).

    Lets see how long it takes to hack the new systems. It seems to me the real vulnerability is not in the recognition, but in the fact that the system is computerized and therefore hackable. And as we all bemoan with Biometrics, once comprimised, forever lost.

  66. Humor by sulli · · Score: 1
    Failure to employ region-appropriate humor will potentially flag you for review as a potential terrorist.

    Do what I did - upgrade your humo[u]r to Region-Free!

    --

    sulli
    RTFJ.
  67. I left my wallet at Wonderland Ranch. by JonTurner · · Score: 1

    "maybe i should extend my tin-foil hat to a tin-foil facemask and a pair of shiny gloves... that way they'll never recognise me!"

    That's true, they mightn't recognize you, but if you're planning to venture into public you had best practice your dance moves and your falsetto singing voice, Mr. Jackson.