Tapes used to spoof fingerprint readers. Need for film detection for fingerprint readers

Tapes used to spoof fingerprint readers. Need for film detection for fingerprint readers

Two South Korean women have managed to fool Japan’s expensive biometric border-control system by using special tapes on their fingers; the invisible tape carries the finger prints of another person, and the South Korean broker who supplied the tape also provided false passports to go with it.

You can read about the incident here: http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/japanese-biometric-border-fooled-tape

Many fingerprint readers now have some liveliness testing incorporated. In its simplest form this would be an observer confirming that the presented finger belongs to the applicant. There are electronic liveliness checks as well such as detection of blood vessels, temperature, and even perspiration changes along the fingerprint ridges.

Much has already been done for counterfeit iris detection based on texture analysis to detect when individuals are wearing contact lenses. In summary the 'ridge' of the lens is detected; although there are many ways to find this including the use of the infrared spectrum.

Links on iris detection are as follows:

1) figment.csee.usf.edu/~sfefilat/data/papers/TuBT6.1.pdf
2) www.nd.edu/~kwb/RingBowyerBTAS_2008.pdf

It seems that similar research needs to be incorporated into fingerprint scanners, to deter the circumvention by use of tapes. Tape ridges, or their material, could be detected through an application of additional spectrum analysis instead of pure pressure sensors currently available in most fingerprint reader models.