Biometric security

Hackers use a fake wax hand to fool vein authentication security

Vein authentication, a biometric security method that scans the veins in your hand, has been cracked, reports Motherboard. Using a fake hand made out of wax, Jan Krissler and Julian Albrecht demonstrated how they were able to bypass scanners made by both Hitachi and Fujitsu, which they claim covers around 95 percent of the vein authentication market. The method was demonstrated at Germany’s annual Chaos Communication Congress.

While imprints of fingerprints can often be left behind on surfaces just by touching them, vein patterns cannot, and are considered to be much more secure as a result. However, this wasn’t a problem for the researchers, who were able to copy their target’s vein layout from a photograph taken with an SLR camera modified to remove its infrared filter.

Although constructing the wax hand eventually only required a single photograph and a construction time of 15 minutes, getting to that point took 30 days and over 2,500 test photos. Even the demonstration didn’t go entirely to plan; the researchers had to put one of the scanners underneath a table to stop the hall’s light’s from interfering with the hack. However, now that the method has been proven to work, other researchers will likely build upon it to create a process that’s more efficient and reliable.

Biometric security

S Korea Adopts Biometric Security

South Korea is turning to the most advanced technology to bolster security. The government has announced that it will be deploying facial recognition technology at public buildings “following a high-profile illegal entry into one of its offices earlier this year,” the Korea Herald reports.

The Ministry of the Interior came under fire for lax and lacking security standards after a man “broke into a government building in central Seoul to tamper with the results of the civil service exam he took.”

The man entered the building at least five time in February and March using an identification card he stole from a public official working in the building. He later stole another two ID cards.

The new system will be phased in during the course of this year, and will work by comparing biometric markers in a database against the characteristics of the person attempting to gain access to restricted areas.