A Japanese researcher, Tsutomu Matsumoto, recently presented a study at an International Telecommunications Union’s Workshop on Security in Seoul, Korea, which demonstrated how a fingerprint reader can be fooled around 80% of the time by a fake print, created with gelatin and using prints lifted from a suitable surface, such as glass.

An American technology expert said, ‘He didn’t use expensive equipment or a specialised laboratory - he used $10 of ingredients you could buy and whipped up his gummy fingers in the equivalent of a home kitchen.’

Jelly Babies

Despite the low level of technology required, the mixture, which is very similar to that used in jelly babies, successfully fooled 11 different commercial fingerprint scanners.

In an online presentation Tsutomu Matsumoto demonstrated two methods of creating a fake finger using his gelatin mix.

The first method was to use gelatin and molding plastic to create the fake fingerprint from an authorised source.

This process typically took less than an hour and yielded a success rate of between 70% and 95%.

Security experts, however, point out that Matsumoto’s technique requires access to the ‘victim’s’ finger in order to produce the jelly model and so therefore does not produce a large threat.

Access Undenied

The second method detailed by Matsumoto does pose some interesting questions however.

Using a microscope to lift fingerprints before using computer technology to enhance and clean up the image allowed Matsumoto to then print the resulting image onto a transparent sheet.

Said sheet is then used to expose a photosensitive printed circuit board which in turn is then etched in order to create fingerprint impressions in the board.

Finally, the gelatin mix is then poured over the etched print and allowed to cool which creates the gummy finger.

If this method is employed then it allows the operator to use any fingerprint left by someone on a variety of surfaces.

Forensic Criminology

Obviously, this could have repercussions of the world of forensic criminology where certain acts are not as time sensitive as using a fingerprint scanner, for example….