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Story URL: http://software.silicon.com/security/0,39024655,11033437,00.htm

Japanese man fools biometric sensor with fake finger
Amazing what you can do with a bit of jelly and some paper...

By Sonya Rabbitte

Published: Friday 17 May 2002

A Japanese researcher has duped 11 supposedly secure biometric fingerprint sensors with homemade gelatine fingers.

Tsutomu Matsumoto, a graduate student at Yokohama University, claimed that fingerprint detectors could be fooled up to 80 per cent of the time by imprinting a random fingerprint onto a gelatine mould.

Using $10 worth of ingredients, Matsumoto made a gelatine finger model. Using a microscope and digital photography tools he lifted a fingerprint from a surface, printed it onto transparent paper, and then etched the image on to a photosensitive circuit board before pouring the gelatine over the etched print and leaving it to cool.

Matsomoto's findings were presented at an international security workshop in South Korea.

For related news, see:
Biometrics offers no guarantees on security
http://www.silicon.com/a 51637
Brits get excited over biometrics