Security researchers at the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange have demonstrated an easy and cheap way to create a fingerprint clone from a photo using a conventional laser printer, wood glue and improvised tools. It is noted that the resulting cast made it possible to bypass the protection of biometric fingerprint authentication and unlock the iPad tablet, MacBook Pro laptop and hardware cryptocurrency wallet that the researchers have.
Techniques for recreating fingerprints have been known for a long time, but they typically require special skills or expensive equipment such as a 3D printer. The cost of creating a clone in the proposed method is about $5. At the first stage, an ordinary smartphone photographs an imprint left on any smooth surface, for example, on a glossy screen / cover of a laptop or smartphone.
Then, in any graphics editor, the operation of increasing the contrast of the papillary pattern, creating a negative, cropping and converting the image to black and white is performed. After that, the prepared image is printed on a typical laser printer, but instead of paper, an acetate sheet is used - a transparent film used for making stencils, stickers and cards. In the process of printing, the toner forms textured convex grooves on the acetate sheet, repeating the papillary pattern.
At the last stage, a thin layer of carpenter's glue is applied to the film, which, after drying, forms an elastic substance that repeats the three-dimensional papillary pattern. By placing the resulting film on a finger, it was possible to unlock most of the tested biometric fingerprint verification systems.
Source: opennet.ru