Keylogger.. pfft, Fingerprint logger.. huh!?
Just when you thought implementing that new biometric fingerprint reader was enough to circumvent those pesky keyloggers or pin readers, something like this comes along:
A British researcher has developed a biometric keylogger of sorts that can capture fingerprints required to unlock building doors or gain access to computer networks or other restricted systems.
I was honestly curious as to what took so long. Let’s face it, the idea of security now days is pretty much just that, an “idea”. Password can become stronger, keycards or tokens can be used, all electronic communication can be encrypted. But unless ever feasible measure is taken to ensure protect something, it’s always going to fall to the old proverb – “a chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link” – and when people start relying on unproven technology, or technology that only attempts to protect or circumvent a single link of the proverbial chain ( we’re talking architecture here ), there will always be some link that someone forgets.
In this case it seems to be a pretty significant link. But as described in the original article, it really does come down to the entire system’s architecture, and how everything relied on the fingerprint reader being the prime source of protection.
source: link
Lets not forget about Mythbusters Episode 59: Crimes and Myth-Demeanors 2 – where they were able to spoof a finger print security device with just a little bit of cleverness.