Chaos Computer Club has demonstrated the steps of how to gain access to biometrics’ control, using fingerprints photographed in high quality. This rings a bell as to how simple and easy it actually be for cyber criminals to get their hands on anyone’s fingertips.

Chaos Computer Club is a world renowned association of hackers within Europe and they have got quite an intriguing revelation for us! Over the weekend, the annual Congress of hackers was held in Hamburg and one of the topics discussed there was the option of intercepting one’s fingerprints remotely. This might sound like science fiction at first, but there was a presentation that swept most of the attendants off their feet.

Jan Krissler (or else known as “Starbug”) has demonstrated the simple and yet effective steps taken, in order to acquire fingerprints from photos. Of course, this is not a method that works 100% and the results can be ambiguous. However, its simplicity is overwhelming.

In the form of an example, Starbug used a high quality photo of the German Minister of Defense, Ursula von der Leyen. The various photos acquired by the specific Minister were used, so as to get a complete fingerprint. After that, the publicly captured photographs were ready to bypass the authentication process in software, such as VeriFinger. Biometric information can be obtained, although there is no physical contact with the person whose fingerprints have been completed through photos.

This is not the first time fingerprints have been acquired through photos. Last year, the same association had demonstrated how the fingerprints could be photographed and subsequently recreated through high resolution.

This photograph was used to bypass the Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint sensor, without requiring any additional touch on behalf of the user. Nevertheless, it is the first time photos from remote places were actually used and successfully offered the access sought after.

Such breakthroughs are always welcome, in order to make use of the newer technologies to the maximum and gain accessibility to biometrics’ control that was previously out of reach.

Still, the danger of hacking into someone’s personal information is relatively low; you will be in need of accessing the device required, before being able to intercept the information included.

The only actual concern is the acknowledgement of how easy and simple it can be for somebody to gain the power of your fingerprints, just by having captured some photos of your palm that make a whole fingerprint.