Biometrics and parts from the dead

Reading through my New Scientist this week I see that there has been concern about dead parts being used to spoof fingerprint scanners. Severed fingers and fingers removed corpses can be used to enter secure facilities, steal cars or log on to computers.

I did mention this in the book Cold Suspenders, and alluded to the first reported case in March 2005, when thieves stole a biometrics-activated Mercedes in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Attackers forced Mr Kumaran to put his finger on the security panel to start the vehicle, bundled him into the back seat and drove off.  But having stripped the car, the thieves became frustrated when they wanted to restart it. They found they could not bypass the immobiliser, which needed the owner's fingerprint to disarm it. They cut off the end of his index finger with a machete, stripped Mr Kumaran naked and left him by the side of the road.

The New Scientist reports that researchers at Dermalog Identification Systems in Hamburg, Germany, have developed a way for a fingerprint scanner to differentiate between live and dead tissue. It is based on the way living tissue "blanches" - or changes colour - when blood is squeezed out of capillaries, for example as a fingertip is pressed against a reading machine.

Fake fingerprints can be also created by imprinting copies in rubbery gels or silicone plastic. There is a suggestion that a valid user can leave an greasy print on a reader, thereby allowing a subsequent user to gain access by putting his finger near enough to the reader to activate it. That may have been one of the problems at Glenochil Prison.

See: 

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128225.100-fingerprint-scanner-to-spot-the-living-dead.html?

Can any system ever be totally secure?
Does more technology actually create more problems?

What if the Internet was switched off?

“Email, telephone and television services would go dark, media organisations become unable to gather and disseminate news, governments struggle to communicate emergency information, commerce grinds to a halt, shops run out of food, the transport system collapses and electricity supplies are be severely disrupted” Says an article in the Independent.

Linx - the London Internet Exchange - handles 80 per cent of our internet traffic. What if it was taken out? What if other key connections to the rest of the world were taken out? Undersea cables and satellite stations could be physically sabotaged, of flooded with data from foreign “botnets”.

The UK has the ability in times of emergency to shut the Internet. But what if it was done for us? What crime could be performed even during a temporary outage of the Internet?
The Independent has an article (mentioned above) about some of the scenarios. But who really knows what would happen? Is it a Postman with an IT background?

Recently  thefts, estimated to have cost financial institutions $86 million, were perpertrated by one man. See Kingpin: How one hacker took over the billion-dollar cybercrime underground by Kevin Poulsen. (New Scentist review). What could be done with this money?

Maybe you would like to read my book "Cold Suspenders" with some more muses about this and other things?
Read an extract Here

http://www.coldsuspenders.com/ 
http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/alvin+finch/cold+suspenders/6295639/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cold-Suspenders-Alvin-Finch/dp/1906210896
Join me on Facebook Here

Bracknell Authors

Another budding author in Bracknell has just published a book.

In The Wool Cycle or The World Well Washed, Dominica Roberts takes a surreal look at the magical world we know as Bracknell.

The World Well Washed is set in and around Bracknell.

It takes in the Bracknell site used as the location of Harry Potter's muggle relations. This book has flying sheep, discussions on the exact type of chocolate that makes up the missing dark matter in the universe, recipes, footnotes and some truly horrible puns.

Readers especially recommended it if you like Terry Pratchett, Jasper Fforde or just giggling inanely at silly jokes.

In the Bracknell News, Mrs Robers is quoted as saying "I've been telling people silly stories about Bracknell for ages, things like the Warfield ghost bus, the way they're always digging the roads up 'for buried treasure' and a whole lot of silly stuff about the underworld under Bracknell.".

It s available from Amazon for £5.99, or it can be purchased from the author for £5 by calling 01344 422902

Don't forget that you can also buy my book (hint hint) from Amazon, and bookshops. See my website at www.coldsuspenders.com.