Tag: Ursula von der Leyen

Hacker clones fingerprints

Ursula von der Leyen - Wikimedia CommonsA German hacker said he cloned the thumb print of defence minister Ursula von der Leyen using little more than an ordinary digital camera.

The BBC said Jan Krissler grabbed several photographs of von der Leyen’s thumb at different angles during a press conference last October.

Although fingerprint recognition is not considered particularly secure, some vendors use them to access devices.

Back in the 2000s, some Japanese banks adopted fingerprints as a chief biometric to access ATMs, but abandoned them after gangsters demonstrated that one way to circumvent security was to chop off peoples’ index fingers and use them to get money from the hole in the wall.

Companies are experimenting with other biometrics such as vein recognition and iris recognition.