The A to Z of biometrics

Gummi bears

Back in 2002 Japanese cryptographer Tsutomu Matsumoto showed that fingerprint readers could be fooled by the use of Gummi Bears.

The list from A to Z

Click on the links below to find out more on each of the entries in the list.

A is for Accuracy
B is for Behavioural biometric
C is for Cash machine
D is for Database
E is for Ear
F is for Facial recognition
G is for Gummi bears
H is for Hand geometry
I is for Iris
J is for Juan Vucetich
K is for Keystroke dynamics
L is for Liveness testing
M is for Mobile phones
N is for Network security
O is for Oxford
P is for Palm
Q is for Queues
R is for Registration
S is for Signature verification
T is for Twins
U is for Universality
V is for Voice verification
W is for Walk
X is for X-ray
Y is for Young
Z is for Zurich Airport

After making a plastic mould of a real finger, he then used gelatine - the stuff that sweets are made of - to make a fake finger, which he managed to use to trick 80 per cent of fingerprint readers. The same technique was used to make copies of latent fingerprints that could also trick the readers. Some fingerprint readers measure the blood pumping through a finger or its temperature in an attempt to prevent this type of spoofing.