Linux-compatible OEM fingerprint reader

snipped-for-privacy@internode.on.net (asph) writes:



What are you wanting besides the pointers that Google provides?

--kyler

        I'm not the  OP, but I'd be interesting to  know if anyone has
successfully used a fingerprint reader as a way to log in under Linux.
Now *that* would be cool!.

-Dan

Possibly, and also insecure.  I read about someone who had managed to
lift a fingerprint from a reader, make a rubber finger, and have the
reader verify it.  Using fingerprints for authentication is almost
like writing your password on the keyboard.

snipped-for-privacy@kth.se (Måns Rullgård) writes:



Oh well.  It would have looked cool though.  Talk about a chick
magnet.  :-D

-Dan

On Wed, 3 Dec 2003 17:14:15 UTC in comp.os.linux.hardware, snipped-for-privacy@kth.se



And has the opposite drawback too... if you ever had an accident and
lost that finger then you wouldn't be able to logon.

I think the thing with rubber fingerprints was on an episode of CSI:
Crime Scene Investigation... doesn't make it true since there appears
to be an awful lot of bollocks in that program as well as fact ;-)

It needn't bee that dramatic.  Who hasn't ever cut their finger,
altering the fingerprint, at least temporarily?



That's not where I heard about it.  A quick Google search turned up
this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1991517.stm .  It seems a bit
more credible than CSI to me.

I recall reading about it...lessee...yup, here it is.
    http://www.computercops.biz/article2754.html

Favorite part:
    Lisa and Starbug say they developed their technique after
    developers of fingerprint scanning equipment claimed that
    their first attack did not present a credible threat because
    it could only be carried out under laboratory conditions. The
    two plan to test their new field technique later this week at
    German computer hardware store which uses fingerprint
    biometrics in their electronic purchasing system.

--kyler

The voices in the head of "Trevor Hemsley" <Trevor-
snipped-for-privacy@no.spam.dial.pipex.com> caused Trevor Hemsley to write in



If it was on tv then it has to be true.

Maybe this is the information you are refering too?

http://heise.de/ct/english/02/11/114 /

 

I imagine for secure login you could design a system equiped with a spool
of very thin clear plastic running over the fingerprint reader, after
every login you would advance the spool and then destroy (incinerate..)
the plastic

Don't forget that the entire keyboard is covered with your
fingerprints.

Well you'd also have to incinerate the keyboard after each use also.

either that or resort to typing with the feet..

*Or* use toe-print (or some other less-widely exposed piece of flesh)
authentication!  I'm off to the patent office.  Think of me when you
start saying things like "I licked-in to the computer and..."

--kyler

I think retina scans are more practical, and are already patented. :)

Maurits.

Nah. Brainwave pattern recognition is the future, mate.

Added benefit: No user is going to complain about the bulk of their
laptop if they have to lug a motorcycle-sized helmet along just to log on.

On a sunny day (Thu, 04 Dec 2003 02:11:28 GMT) it happened Alex Pavloff


Is that why all that space stuff is so expensive ;-)?

If it's a real multiuser system, it will be covered with lots of
different fingerprints, that will be a lot more difficult to extract.

Maurits.

        Yes, but anything  you touch has your fingerprints  on it.  So
all an  attacker would  have to  do is get  something you  touched.  I
think that was the point.  If you were targeting a particular user you
could just steal some of his  or her trash as you watched him/her drop
something in the wastecan.  If you weren't any fingerprint will do.

-Dan