Police 3D-Printed A Murder Victim's Finger To Unlock His Phone (theverge.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Police in Michigan have a new tool for unlocking phones: 3D printing. According to a new report from Flash Forward creator Rose Eveleth, law enforcement officers approached professors at the University of Michigan earlier this year to reproduce a murder victim's fingerprint from a prerecorded scan. Once created, the 3D model would be used to create a false fingerprint, which could be used to unlock the phone. Because the investigation is ongoing, details are limited, and it's unclear whether the technique will be successful. Still, it's similar to techniques researchers have used in the past to re-create working fingerprint molds from scanned images, often in coordination with law enforcement. This may be the first confirmed case of police using the technique to unlock a phone in an active investigation. Apple has recently changed the way iOS manages fingerprint logins. You are now required to input an additional passcode if your phone hasn't been touched for eight hours and the passcode hasn't been entered in the past six days.

Comments

So much for biometrics being more "Secure"

[PinkyGigglebrain]

How long till they use 3D printing or such to replicate someones face or retina scan?

One more reason for me to never use or trust bio-metric authentication.

And now I have something I can point to and say "See?" when someone tries to convince me how great Bio-metrics are.

So even without the conductive layer . . .

[mmell]

the police can put my fingerprint anywhere they want? Conceivably to be "found" later on and used as evidence against me?

Prosecutor: "Can you explain how your fingerprints came to be on the murder weapon?"

Defendant: "I don't know. I never touched it. Never seen it before. Maybe the police put it there? Since we know they can, experience has shown that they will."