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You might want to refrain from flashing the “peace” or “victory” sign the next time you pose for a picture during that vacation. Posing a “high five” to the camera? Likely a bad idea.
In fact, you might just want to keep your hands out of pictures altogether.
Why?
It seems hackers’ new favorite trend is lifting fingerprints from photos you post online.
Hide Your Hands?
The South China Morning Post’s Zoey Zhang writes:
In a mainland (China) workplace reality show aired in April, financial expert Li Chang used a celebrity selfie to show how clearly visible fingers in a photograph could put personal biometric data at risk.
Li said fingerprints could potentially be extracted from selfies taken within 1.5 metres if the fingers faced the camera directly. Even at a distance of 1.5 to 3 metres, around half of the hand details could still be recovered.
The programme showed fingerprint ridges becoming visible after the image was enhanced with photo-editing software and artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
Is nothing sacred?
Someone stealing your fingerprints could lead to all sorts of havoc — at least for anything that requires that particular biometric for identification.
Should this cause you to panic and delete your social media accounts?
Maybe not. At least, not right now.
Ms. Zhang adds that cryptography expert Jing Jiwu said lifting fingerprints isn’t exactly easy. Lighting, focus, and image clarity play major roles. “However, the risk increases when photographs are taken with higher-resolution devices or when criminals obtain multiple related images…She advised people to blur, pixelate or smooth out their hands before posting selfies online, and to avoid registering fingerprints on unfamiliar devices.”
It’s getting to the point where photos we want to share with others will have more blurs and pixels than actual clear content.
This feels like it’s not a problem until it really is.
But tell that to people it’s (allegedly) happened to:
Ms. Zhang says:
According to Sohu News, a man in Hangzhou, eastern China, posted a photograph online last July in which his fingers were clearly visible.
Criminals reportedly downloaded the image and used his fingerprint in an attempt to unlock the smart lock at his home, but the attempt was stopped in time.
In another case reported by Xinyang Daily, an employee used a company attendance system to collect a colleague’s fingerprint and make silicone fingerprint covers, which were later used in a burglary involving 580,000 yuan (US$85,000).
Silicone fingerprint covers? Welp, that’s how the movie starts.
Final Approach
Those innocent, fun “peace”-flashing selfies could lead to your identity being stolen.
Will this affect your social media posting habits? Please share with us in the comments!
Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and and may earn compensation when a customer clicks on a link, when an application is approved, or when an account is opened. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
Why just steal my fingerprints, go ahead and lift my face and 3-D it a bit with AI and photo editing and 3-D printing and use that to unlock phones and other devices? (So do we have to keep our faces outta selfies and public group photos?)