Biometric vein recognition under attack

Vein recognition is a biometric that has traditionally been seen as difficult to hack or spoof, as the biometric patterns created by the vein structure in a person’s finger are hidden from view.

Source: http://planetbiometrics.com Ref. Biometric vein recognition under attack

However, Swiss researchers have now found a way to spoof a vein recognition device, albeit not a commercial sensor by one of the main manufacturers of such technology – predominantly Hitachi and Fujitsu.

The attack was performed by the biometrics group at the Idiap Research Insitute in Switzerland, while the finger vein device is an open sensor provided by the University of Twente.

Please see below a video of how the team beat the sensor using some image processing techniques, a thick piece of paper, a paper clip, pair of scissors and a marker pen.