German minister fingered as hacker steals her thumbprint from a PHOTO

JMH · Dec 30, 2014

Security researchers claim to have cloned the thumbprint of the German Defense Minister by photographing her hand at a press conference.

In a presentation at the annual Chaos Computer Club hacker gathering in Berlin, biometrics specialist Jan Krisller – known in the community as "Starbug" – explained how he'd taken a variety of photographs of Ursula von der Leyen when she gave a press briefing in October.

Krisller used a lens with a focal length of 200mm and shot the snaps from six feet away, he said. He then used commercial fingerprint software from Verifinger to map out the contours of the Minister's thumbprint.

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German minister fingered as hacker steals her thumbprint from a PHOTO

JMH

Emeritus, Contributor