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PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTS
Used either as a symbol of victory or as one of peace, the “V” finger gesture, with the index and middle fingers facing outwards, has long been a part of international pop culture.
However, with the advent of high-resolution cameras and advanced AI-powered software, security experts warn that the popular hand gesture could lead to people’s having their fingerprints pirated and used to bypass biometric security measures.
Chinese security expert Li Chang appeared on a reality show last month and used a celebrity’s selfie as an example to show clearly how his or her fingersprints were visible in a V-sign selfie and how such photos could put personal fingerprint information at risk.
In his analysis, Li showed that there was a very high probability of fully getting a person’s fingerprint information when taking close-range shots from under 1.5 meters.
In addition, Li showed that even from distances up to 3 meters, about half of a person’s fingerprints could be extracted, which is where AI software comes in.
During the show, Li shocked viewers by demonstrating how photo editing software and AI technology for correcting low-resolution images made fingerprints, which were blurry to the naked eye, extremely detailed.
“With the proliferation of high-definition cameras, it has become technically possible to reconstruct detailed information about the hand, such as fingerprints, using only the so-called ‘V’ pose,” Jing Jiu, a cryptography professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, confirmed.
Although Li Chang’s experiment went viral on social media, sparking fears of massive security leaks, some experts cautioned that stealing someone’s fingerprints and using them to defeat biometric security is not that simple.
Factors like lighting conditions, camera focus, and image clarity all come into play in the actual fingerprint recovery process, and identity thieves would ideally need multiple photos of the same person to compare fingerprints.
If you really want to feel safe about your biometrics but just cannot help making the V sign in selfies, Li Chang advises you to blur the tips of your fingers electronically or smooth out the fingerprints using digital editing tools before posting photos on social media.
No doubt some authorities will welcome this additional way to identify and control their population. And for the rest of us, just another complication in our lives, thanks to smartphones.
SOURCE: odditycentral.com
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