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3-D Ultrasonic Fingerprint Scanning Could Strengthen Smartphone Security
Zothecula sends news that researchers from the University of California are developing new fingerprint scanning technology that could one day enhance the security of mobile devices. The new technique scans a fingertip in 3D, capturing the tiny ridges and valleys that make up a fingerprint, as well as the tissue beneath the surface. This guards against attackers unlocking a device with an image of the fingerprint, or by attempting to dust the scanner.
The basic concepts behind the researchers’ technology are akin to those of medical ultrasound imaging. They created a tiny ultrasound imager, designed to observe only a shallow layer of tissue near the finger’s surface. "Ultrasound images are collected in the same way that medical ultrasound is conducted," said [Professor David] Horsley. "Transducers on the chip’s surface emit a pulse of ultrasound, and these same transducers receive echoes returning from the ridges and valleys of your fingerprint’s surface." The basis for the ultrasound sensor is an array of MEMS ultrasound devices with highly uniform characteristics, and therefore very similar frequency response characteristics. ... To fabricate their imager, the group employed existing microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology, which smartphones rely on for such functions as microphones and directional orientation. They used a modified version of the manufacturing process used to make the MEMS accelerometer and gyroscope found in the iPhone and many other consumer electronics devices.
In Virginia your fingerprint isn't protected by the 5th amendment.
http://mashable.com/2014/10/30...
This is mostly going to be a benefit to cheating spouses who lock their phones constantly. The tech is mildly interesting, but it would suck to get locked out your phone because of a minor burn or a cut while making a hoagie. I can guarantee that this stuff can happen even with that technology. Facial and fingerprint scanners have been notoriously bad, even when they spend the money trying to make a better one.
Now as to beating it -- I'm willing to bet a piece of paper with the print with some clay attached and pressed into the shape (roughly) of a finger) could fool it. They aren't as clever as they think they are.
Freedom is merely privilege extended unless enjoyed by one and all.
I like my passwords replaceable and secret, thank you very much.
It seems like something that would make it much more difficult for ordinary thieves to exploit cell phones. That would seem to be pretty useful.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
MEMS: Might Eventually Make Something
Qualcomm already has this technology. It's going to likely roll out to the Android smartphones released later this year or early next year.
So I just use a 3d printer and "print" a finger after capturing an image and guessing at the depth of the ridges
But will your makerbot plastic finger reflect sound in the same way as the real thing?
If they're using a print, it's not much harder to make a gummy bear. This is like adding a reinforced door lock and ignoring your $2 hinges.
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
Another in a long line of techniques to gather you biometric information.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
It not only uses the print itself, but sub-dermal unique constructs.
to access your data. While you may have a constitutional right to withhold your password, the Supreme Court has already said the police don't need a warrant to get access to your finger.
> This guards against attackers unlocking a device with an image of the fingerprint
Now we will need a 3D rubberized printout of a finger body part with fingerprint.
I can't imagine any other industry that could drive this technological development to maturity.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Fingerprints should not be used for biometrics. Period.
Using fingerprints and allowing a third-party to have access to that registration data and tracking information is unacceptable. Once you give this data to the government or big business, it will NEVER be erased or restricted, regardless of claims or laws- it will go into huge databases and shared between entities and agencies and used however they want for as long as they want.
There is only one safer and practical biometric I know of- that is deep vein palm scan. That registration data cannot be readily abused. It can't be latently collected like DNA, fingerprints, and face recognition can. You have to know you are registering/enrolling when it happens. You don't leave evidence of it all over the place. When you go to use it, you know you are using it every time. And on top of all that, it is accurate, fast, reliable, unchanging, live-sensing, and cheap. If you must participate in a biometric, this is the one you should insist on using.
Example: http://www.m2sys.com/palm-vein...
This technology could be put in portable devices like phones by simply including an IR camera. It won't be as fast/small/close as using fingerprints, so it won't be as convenient. But safety, privacy, and security are diametrically opposed to convenience.... it is worth it.
Wow, a research project that uses Ultrasound to scan fingerprints in 3D? This would be amazing if Qualcomm didn't have a near production version (Likely showing up in phones early next year around CES) that they were showing off at MWC months ago. I played with it here, it works, it does '3D', it scans beneath the surface, it is ultrasound based, etc etc. It also does other neat tricks that they aren't making public.
http://semiaccurate.com/2015/0...
So why is this 'new' one all the rage again?
-Charlie