Amazing what you can do with a bit of jelly and some paper…

By Sonya Rabbitte – silicon.com

A Japanese researcher has duped 11 supposedly secure biometric fingerprint sensors with homemade gelatine fingers.

Tsutomu Matsumoto, a graduate student at Yokohama University, claimed that fingerprint detectors could be fooled up to 80 per cent of the time by imprinting a random fingerprint onto a gelatine mould.

Using $10 worth of ingredients, Matsumoto made a gelatine finger model. Using a microscope and digital photography tools he lifted a fingerprint from a surface, printed it onto transparent paper, and then etched the image on to a photosensitive circuit board before pouring the gelatine over the etched print and leaving it to cool.

Matsomoto’s findings were presented at an international security workshop in South Korea.

Woman uses tape to trick biometric airport fingerprint scan

by Serkan Toto – crunchgear.com

This news from Japan is not really boosting trust in airport security measures not only in that country but also in the USA: Japanese media are today reporting that a South Korean woman entered Nippon last April passing through the biometric immigration screening despite her previous deportation records.

Her trick: She went through the screening by placing her index fingers over a fingerprint reader after putting a special tape on the fingers. The woman claims she received the tape and a fake passport from a “broker” back in South Korea where she was deported to in July 2007 after working in Japan as a bar hostess.

Following the US, Japan began the biometric immigration screening in November 2007 as part of an antiterrorism measure.  All foreigners aged 16 and up have to undergo fingerprinting and photographing at airports nationwide to see if their data match those of deported or wanted foreigners and terrorists.

This is the first time that such an incident was reported. When the system launched in Japan, problems were reduced to computer glitches and some difficulties because of “dry skin”.

The special tape used by the South Korean woman had someone else’s fingerprints on. The Japanese government said it’s now forced to review its antiterrorism measures at airports.