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posted by mrpg on Monday December 31 2018, @11:52AM   Printer-friendly
from the that's-handy dept.

Devices and security systems are increasingly using biometric authentication to let users in and keep hackers out, be that fingerprint sensors or perhaps the iPhone's FaceID. Another method is so-called "vein authentication", which, as the name implies, involves a computer scanning the shape, size, and position of a users' veins under the skin of their hand.

But hackers have found a workaround for that, too. On Thursday at the annual Chaos Communication Congress hacking conference in Leipzig, Germany, security researchers described how they created a fake hand out of wax to fool a vein sensor.

"It makes you feel uneasy that the process is praised as a high-security system and then you modify a camera, take some cheap materials and hack it," Jan Krissler, who goes by the handle starbug, and who researched the vein authentication system along with Julian Albrecht, told Motherboard over email in German.


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  • (Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Monday December 31 2018, @12:16PM (2 children)

    by SomeGuy (5632) on Monday December 31 2018, @12:16PM (#780237)

    "vein authentication", which, as the name implies, involves a computer scanning the shape, size, and position of a users' veins under the skin of their hand.

    Oh. I was supposed to use my *hand*? :P

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  • (Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Monday December 31 2018, @02:21PM (1 child)

    by RandomFactor (3682) Subscriber Badge on Monday December 31 2018, @02:21PM (#780256) Journal

    Reminder: Hand must be stationary long enough to get a reading.

    --
    В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
    • (Score: 2) by krishnoid on Monday December 31 2018, @11:22PM

      by krishnoid (1156) on Monday December 31 2018, @11:22PM (#780430)

      created a fake hand out of wax to fool a vein sensor.

      And moving fast enough to reproduce body temperature, yet slow enough not to melt. Tough call on that one.