FEATURE SECURITY AND COMMERCIAL SENSING


Giving fingerprint security a helping hand


Optical methods are helping defeat criminals seeking to hack biometric identification, finds Andy Extance


W


hen it comes to fingerprint security, even the world’s leading nation is vulnerable. India’s voluntary Aadhaar


system is by far the world’s most extensive biometric identification system. Each Indian resident has a 12-digit unique identity number, linked to their photograph, their fingerprints and their iris scans. As of March, there were 1.3 billion Aadhaar numbers, covering more than 99 per cent of the Indian adult population. Yet in February, Indian police arrested six people for hacking hundreds of bank accounts using cloned fingerprints. A report in the National Herald said all it took was a ‘glue gun and adhesive’, costing just five rupees per fingerprint, around seven cents. Despite such threats, fingerprint-based identification using optical techniques is expanding across the world. ‘We are seeing growth in the use of optical fingerprints by civil authorities and commercial organisations,’ said James MacLean, business owner of Biometric Identification Solutions at French security giant Thales. ‘Optical fingerprint capture is a proven technology. In Latin America, Africa, India and Asia fingerprints are still the preferred biometric.’ However, MacLean recognised the


threats the technology faces. ‘Criminals continuously try to hack security systems using new approaches, violating the software structure or through the use of


8 Electro Optics April 2021


new material able to replicate real skin,’ he said. Thales is therefore working on identifying ‘new materials that could be used to simulate a fingerprint and how to detect these materials’, added MacLean. Similarly, many other companies offer fingerprint detection technologies that promise robust security, and are developing new ones. Thales’ main optical fingerprint detection


system is the DactylD20, a compact single-finger scanner with a built-in fake finger detection system. It was developed by Italian firm Green Bit, which Thales acquired in 2019. To operate it, a user must place their finger on a prism illuminated


‘The newly-captured image is matched with previously recorded fingerprints to ensure that it is the same person’


by LEDs emitting two wavelengths of ultraviolet light which is minimally scattered by skin. Any light that is scattered is directed by the prism and lenses into a sensor to form the fingerprint. The LEDs are positioned in a special


arrangement, creating patterns that can be analysed by ‘an advanced fake finger detection software algorithm’, said MacLean. ‘The strategy of image acquisition of the fingerprint has two


steps. The first acquires the image of the fingerprint. The second measures the characteristics of the skin. Real skin has a different response than artificial materials.’ MacLean claimed that this functionality isn’t necessarily expensive to buy, thanks to the sophisticated algorithms that the DactylD20 uses.


The DactylD20 is designed both to


record and verify fingerprints. Captured fingerprint images ‘are converted to templates for easy matching’, he said. ‘The images and the templates are stored with the client’s records,’ MacLean explained. ‘On subsequent visits, the client will use the DactylD20 to capture a new fingerprint image. The newly captured image is matched with previously recorded fingerprints to ensure that it is the same person.’


The DactylD20 can also be used together


with smartcards that carry a previously- recorded version of a person’s fingerprints.


Scanners go large Fake finger detection makes the DactylD20 an ideal choice for unattended applications such as self-service kiosks and ATMs, MacLean said. ‘In China, the DactylD20 is used by


provincial governments to verify citizens’ ID cards when accessing various government services in the territory. It can be used by financial organisations to prevent account takeovers and identity theft.’


g @electrooptics | www.electrooptics.com


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