Biometric features like the iris or fingerprints are unique and cant be changed. Thats why theyre used to provide secure protection for passports mobile phones and Bank Accounts. But these features are easily accessible we leave fingerprints every time we touch something so our biometric feature is really secure after all theyre often used to protect some of our most Sensitive Data. Companies and Government Agencies do a proper job of protecting biometric data from Cyber Attacks or other criminals one step ahead. What happens when that data falls into the wrong hands. A growing number of people are using biometric data to access digital devices like mobile phones. The data are easy to use and you cant forget that as you might a password. But most people dont realize that when they access their devices they leave a data trail. And how do you unlike your phone which in fact my finger fingerprint faiza fingerprint its safer and i think its safer to say you said the phone they figure a pretty good friend felony but i figure enough the pin number. Because its easier and faster yes its all use touch id. Were at Munich Airport to meet i. T. Security specialists going up. Governments and private Sector Companies often make use of his expertise for example if their systems have been hacked. Do we place too much trust in the security of biometric data. Given this data is not secure and its vulnerable to attack. We usually have no idea where and how our biometric data are stored sometimes this information is encrypted sometimes not. We did it can also be stored on the device that were using or in an app or in a cloud. Just as im going to do it certainly convenient to just use a fingerprint to unlock a digital device part of the system works well to do until the data falls into the wrong hands this is new technology and we dont have a lot of experience using it. If something goes wrong its often too late to fix it and this is shown suspicious. This is how the by. Matric fingerprint authentication process usually works the image is evaluated converted into digital form and then stored in a database. When you try to access a device with a fingerprint its compared with the image in the database if it matches your in. If it doesnt access is denied but how secure are these systems. To find out more weve arranged to meet a berlin hacker who calls himself star bug. Last year he showed us how easy it is to forge a fingerprint. We meet up with the Chaos Computer Club a german hacker association where starbuck wants to demonstrate a biometric fingerprint. It involves us swapping fingerprints. Starbucks fingerprint on the phone screen is scanned in. Editors on the computer and then printed out on transparent film. The print is then smeared with regular glue to create a mold. Is it really that easy to outsmart a high tech scanner. Two hours later when the glue is dr we peel it off. After breathing on it briefly we attach a starbucks fingerprint to our reporters finger. Lo and behold the scanner says user identified and starbuck is in or rather we are. Using a simple glue mold to trick the scanner. Fing up we were working with the only detection device that was certified in germany for that purpose and the company claimed that the device could distinguish between a fingerprint mockup on the real thing. And so we used a fake fingerprint and the device couldnt tell the difference for an associate a couple. In it and then for us thats definitely cause for concern today we want to find out whether there are similar problems with Security Systems that are based on the iris of the human eye. We take a photograph of starbucks iris. He loads the digital image onto his computer and adjust it to the correct proportions. To. The next step is to print the resized image. And then. Will switch the security setting on his phone to iris detection. Focused as to this should allow me to unlock the phone with an image of my iris. Access codes. And is it secure the suits the manufacturer says it is but well soon see that its normal. We bought some generic contact lenses at a drugstore will help to make the iris image more realistic. And show them so take the image and hold it up and get those as ill turn it on. You know were in. A high Tech Security system is outsmarted by a simple piece of paper. Cyber attacks on individuals are bad enough but its even worse when criminals hack into databases where extensive numbers of such images are stored. Today might involve just one person criminals can just select a victim of data and in those databases there are thousands even hundreds of thousands of high quality fingerprint images. You dont have to waste time fixing them up. Because. Biometric data is widely available on the part of the internet that can only be accessed by means of special software. Its a Virtual Meeting marketplace for criminals to. Hide their identity behind pseudonyms and encryption systems. Millions of personal data records are offered for sale on the web. Weve managed to track down some sites used by the Identity Theft mafia. Covered was all kinds of data stolen from people all over the world. Including names addresses credit card information and bank account details. We did a search using the search term biometric and found people were offering guides for forging fingerprints. Replica fingerprints used to fool Security Systems we have no idea who this fingerprint actually belongs to. We also saw numerous offers for illegal travel documents either complete forgeries or stolen ideas that had been tampered with. Ports for most countries where on offer including germany. Biometric passports are also available like this one from the u. S. We contacted one of the sellers. Passport with biometric features can you give me one. How much and when can you deliver. It we wait for their reply. Even the theft of conventional data can become a huge problem for those targeted. Data were stolen via social media. A company. One thousand euros for electronic goods. She initially ignored the demand for payment. But just a few days later she received a further demand this time from a debt collecting agency. Not again. Yeah look im calling about a letter telling me that i had ordered something except i didnt. Start home the hopeful but yes i misses her but thats not me and i already spinning this convention should be a thousand it became several thousand euros in total one invoice for three hundred euros another for seven hundred and then a thousand. In the mail kept on piling up three or four letters a week anything over in space some eventually the bill was over thirteen thousand euros then i thought you have to take action or something or discuss how id like to file a complaint. As i did. Despite being the victim the onus was on her to convince the police that somebody had been shopping using her name for them to be thinking through what we need to know is that you didnt actually order anything and that you cant explain this no i ordered nothing. Im sorry if im repeating myself but we do have to ask you have no explanation for these orders. So were not equals no i have asked my friends and my sister has restocked so. Although the criminals merely grabbed her name and date of birth from facebook the resulting trouble for Claudia Huckle was enormous hers was a case of straightforward conventional Identity Theft. But the repercussions brought her to the edge of a nervous breakdown. Going to her is sadly not surprised we asked him to comment on our research. He is convinced that the growing use of biometric data in Digital Systems will change the nature of Identity Theft with dramatic consequences for victims. Then you have once you. Data have been misappropriated you will not be able to use them again. Users with a stolen conventional password comprising letters and numbers can change at any time what they can never alter is their fingerprint. Theres a good deal of evidence indicating that hackers are specifically targeting biometric data. Our Research Indicates that millions of people have been affected. In two thousand and fifteen the u. S. Office of Personnel Management issued the following statement it reads in part. All records indicate legal fingerprints were likely compromised during a cyber intrusion five point six Million People were affected. In the philippines in two thousand and sixteen hackers broke into an official voter database where fingerprints were stored. Fifty Million People were affected. In india last year there was a Security Breach in the governments biometric Identification System known as. Point two billion people were affected. India is the world leader in the use of biometric authentication all citizens are required to submit data for a high tech government passport. People already use that document to register for pensions and benefits if they cant provide it in if occasion wish an iris image or a fingerprint they cant access the system or their benefits. Last year the government effectively issued a cyber crime alert. Genome is shown and cyber crimes and cyber Cyber Security one of the see these issues that i think a glance economy of like america. In the u. S. Biometric databases have been repeatedly hacked into. One of our sources tells us where to look on the internet to find the still immature. We find both conventional and biometric information including digital fingerprints. We also learned that criminals have used this data on the black market to buy state subsidized food. We travel to the city of about three hundred kilometers north of mumbai where they have took place. So i dont think we find several people whose data were stolen. One of them agrees to talk to us on camera. Is a furniture dealer hes forty years old. Hes going to show us his government receipt book. It indicates whether someone has received food benefits but there are no entries in the book. Is doing ok financially so he doesnt need government help. But the official online Monitoring System shows that goodyear a has purchased food. Whoever did it used to go to your is biometric data his hard number. I think. Met a picture of this confirms somebody has stolen my fingerprints. The government these days has been emphasizing fingerprints theyve made it mandatory to link Bank Accounts with our hard numbers look at the moment there is pressure on the police but im afraid its so shes sitting. Here is prints are now available on the Digital Black market. If someone uses them to commit a crime could become a suspect. People in the west have largely not paid enough attention to this problem. In india hackers have managed to penetrate the Worlds Largest biometric database which contains information on more than a billion people. The. Investigative journalist. Discovered the leak in the database she wrote a newspaper article on the story in january twenty eighth seen and described how she contacted some criminals online. They sold her a Software Program that provided access to the governments biometric Identification System with access to the data of one point two billion people it was illegal for her to buy the program and she faced the possibility of criminal charges but she did it anyway i know all. But i have to do it because. Before me many reporters they try to highlight this issue they wanted to flood this issue but they couldnt do it because they would not having any concrete evidence to prove became so i had two options either to go forward go for this illegal way to follow this if you can be hard to keep unflagging or to keep on highlighting the shows which no one was going to be from since it was a matter of National Security as well as the privacy of every indian i took. To the decision and i finally went ahead with this software chasing the software. For. The government continues to deny that someone broke into the system. Shows us the original email that she received from the hackers. This message i received from my previous Anonymous Sources those who were offering these will. Be between the two guys who thought they charge the equivalent of about five euros for access to the system at the time just about anyone could buy the Software Program. And they say. When Sensitive Data is hacked whether through carelessness security gaps or theft the consequences for those affected can be devastating. Just by numerous serious incidents last year the indian authorities issued another call for citizens to submit biometric data. This letter to an individual was titled enrollment of residents whose biometrics matched that of other residents the recipient was told. If your biometrics are not updated within fifteen days your aadhaar number will be deactivated. The authority in question refused to comment when we asked how fingerprints and irises can be assigned to a number of individuals. For this amounts to irresponsible behavior. Distinctive induced when the state collects data on its citizens they in turn expect the state to take care of those data evidently thats not the case here but to be fair its sometimes not possible. So you have to ask whether its worth conducting a universal collection of citizens data given the risk that it could trigger total chaos this is an absolute discos alstons and. The police have to remain anonymous when investigating criminal behavior on the dark with just as the criminals do. With the police therefore use Fake Identities to make contact and wrap up a transaction. They need that online deal to be sealed in order to prosecute criminals in the real world. We want to show our findings from the dark web to an expert from the Cyber Crime Task force of the getting in city police in germany. In the meantime we get a response from the person offering Fake Passports they tell us to send them the relevant data and even the desired place and date of issue and fingerprints. The post comes with a price list we pretend to be interested in a spanish passport valid through two thousand and twenty eight. The post offers worldwide delivery. Police investigators found violent specializes in dark net marketplaces and is familiar with how the criminals work. We showed him the results of our research. I was assigned to one of the its a commercial site not unlike ebay or amazon buyers want to have a logo for recognition purposes and there are ratings to. These sites sell identities and buyers determine what data they want to have included a quote for you that might be made up names or those of real people you know im going to come up through both vi x. Within a part of the ongoing. Including photos and fingerprints which criminals used to create a new fake identity while also providing replica fingerprints. As an irish to them im going to tutor them and theyve got all the criminal needs is a suitable means of reproduction of this biometric feature. Weve often seen fingerprints for the good will but more recently three d. Printed faces in order to deceive apple face id torsion its a growing trend for them to those whom. So far the german black market usually deals only with conventional data you can buy lists of names addresses and Financial Information for six to ten euro. No one seems to be offering biometric data not yet and it seems to be merely a question of time until they do. Experience has shown that all databases are hackable and have been hacked are good. We finally get a response from the person who offered to sell us a fake passport. He wants various kinds of data a fingerprint scan a copy of our reporters signature and an id photo. He shows us a sample of how the fingerprint scans need to look. We agree to this deal for journalistic purposes only. This person does not operate on the dark web which is unusual we used a Computer Program to generate the fingerprints and the id photos so no such person actually exists. We send off the data and add a query about the passport. Will this data be in the chip. They say they can forge passports that have biometric features but is that really possible. Todays id documents are supposed to enhance security for travelers and speed up check in procedures as here at Munich Airport. Biometric data is integrated into an invisible radio frequency identification chip in the passport. The chip transmits facial data stored in the passport to a monitoring facility. There the data is compared with the digital material thats stored here on the screen at the time of the check. If they match the passenger is allowed through the security gate. The passports from different e. U. Countries may look practically identical but were told the technology involved is often different. It is long to get through these each country issues kids who are these are if i d chips so if i have a german passport i need to keep from germany is by the way if i have a french passport. From france i dont believe influences and possibly the buttons on the phone trying to. Foment your passports are supposed to be forgery proof but the European BorderAgency Frontex told us in an official response. There have been some cases in the e. U. And showing an area of forged passports that had. Manipulated chip. Another Disturbing Development is that hackers are now able to access facial data included in european passports the from. Here we use a Simple Mobile Phone app to activate the chip in a german passport. And not encrypted data in some non european passports can sometimes also be accessed. The passport forger finally gets back to us. He says please send the money to the bitcoin address below so he can get started. This is where we break off contact and then hand over our research to the German Authorities we have no idea whether we would actually have received the forged biometric passport that the seller promised. When stolen data appears on the dark web hackers have usually acquired it by exploiting a vulnerability in a Software Program it takes about a week for these security loopholes to be discovered and closed. And its usually too late to help those whose data have been compromised data flow in many systems is not properly monitored. And Security Specialists say there are between four and eight million attacks every day. Germany is fourth on the list of countries that have been hit hardest. Ve use new Data Protection regulations called on private Sector Companies to do more to protect sensitive information. But germany remains vulnerable to Cyber Attacks. The regulations dont seem to have helped much when it comes to improving i. T. Security systems. Professor is the executive director of the e used agency for network and Information Security. Expertise is widely respected in the i. T. Sector and hes increasingly concerned about the spread of Identity Theft. Right now hes on his way to an i. T. Security conference in potsdam. We asked him why experts cant get a grip on this ominous problem. Isnt just having a lot of companies are bringing i. T. Products onto the market but no one seems to know whether they actually provide proper security i think is that possible today this is sort of like unfortunately yes when i buy a product i dont know what sort of security features it might have. Thats the case was typical fingerprint readers or facial Recognition Software and smartphones. But its not theres no guarantee that it will do what the manufacturer claims but it all i can do is hope that it does for us all to the most hopeful. The head of the e. U. Agency for networking Information Security can only hope that a product is safe. Security will be a key topic at the potsdam conference. A lot of participants say that the new regulations dont go far enough to protect private data which govern the death of regulations alone solved Data Security problems the private sector and security authorities should adopt Practical Solutions but thats becoming more difficult to do because. As you have to look to see if you have escaped liability for i. T. Products would be a big help when theres Major Pressure on the bell appears to be the first to get products on the market that all. And leads to products that have not been verified being made available weird emerges pretty soon that theyre vulnerable to all manner of attacks that could some. And that enables hackers and cyber criminals to access the data on that Service Without authorization. To dothan the action here would help them to qualify as a possible to have. E. U. Regulations impose heavy fines for companies that dont protect identity related data. But what if the Data Protection software has security loopholes that make it vulnerable to hackers. Who. Says that the manufacturers are not liable for this problem. And. There has to be a point where somebody in the chain sells a nonsecure product that does not meet Data Protection stipulations with it off and they have to be made liable somehow. Do you see a chance of comprehensive it. Liability after. A moment is that right now its not politically expedient to keep monitoring the situation like a. Professor is on his way to the e. U. Net Security Office in athens where theres plenty on the agenda. The e. U. Is working on a new on line guidelines. Weve come to the university of least in trying to visit. Hes the codirector of the Cyber SecurityResearch Center here. He says German Authorities need to do more to protect personal data despite the new e. U. Regulations. The new agency has been set up to implement those regulations but ferrata believes that the legislation doesnt go far enough. To make his point that many i. T. Systems are open to attack hes written some Software Code for us. This fingerprint scanner is similar to the ones that are used by German Authorities. As software captures a print. Just open the capture area the fingerprint scan indicator starts flashing for you we put the print on it and it scanned into the system was forced to. The image of the printer is transferred to a separate computer for processing. But theres a big Security Risk here because the transfer is not encrypted. Florida has written a Software Program that exploits this flaw in the security system. Its a t. V. Version i like to make the trojan with a keystroke and when i press a capture the Program Replaces the real data with some random material that we choose which will use an image of a skull and crossbones for this test. I told. Them this software can also create fake fingerprints that look absolutely real when you put your forms on and they are those. From a hacker who has access to the image data including fingerprints can choose to copy them or alter them stories own purposes or to receive money pull you to do this thats how fake fingerprints can end up in id documents that could be used by criminals to indian the system would a Government Office be able to spot and intercept this sort of malicious software. Weve seen Cyber Attacks on the just talk of Nuclear Power plants and energy companies. Would go into any computer is vulnerable to attack. And of course that includes computers and population records offices in computer infancy and could. In germany millions of citizens have submitted their fingerprints in recent years using scanners that dont offer proper security protection. See that in hanover is the worlds biggest computer trade fair. Among the vendors is the Company Behind the fingerprint scanner. But. What do they know about this serious security loophole and are they. Willing to comment. The company in question is derma laws a subsidiary of germanys federal Printing Office and as such a government agency. Will provide biometric authentication for governments who want to ensure that when they issue a passport drivers license or similar document diversion that individual is unable to engage in Identity Fraud is between. Their standing kluges a presentation of a similar scanner we put it to the test this thing of the sort is that photo then encrypted in the device just dont know if its sent to a p. C. Where its in code it see if it done to be cordoned off on to spoof as it has so photo on the transfer and then coding the kind of but no corruption on the device no thats what this is going to so in future even though the images will be encrypted before they leave the device its not all it to demand being made increasingly by banks its just about right now we can do encryption starting with the p. C. Could be up to see. If it safe if this is so this device right here is also used it to just get the state of health but im going to manage it by the citizens Registration Agency. So i can show you that you never got stuck in. My stance that just this is the z f one used by the Registration Agency is this is that the same one its a bit bigger. Does it have encrypt. It likewise starting on the p. C. s often could see up to infancy a photo here then for all. Of us would be blocking but so what else do banks want to see and they want to know who theyre dealing with this between have these i dont know your customers of the School System for talking what do they want to. You know fuzzy on im doing because theyre assuming a huge scope. Criminal minds wish to consume the street they want to prevent somebody capturing that fingerprint once its transferred to the p. C. It seems to conceive on notice it ok. And thats possible yes its true too much. So the company is aware that the device is vulnerable something the German Government is surely aware of given that the loophole has been around for ten years. All the more puzzling then is the discovery of this article by a member of germanys federal Administration Agency which recommends this very same fingerprint scanner for the schengen system. A scanner thats vulnerable to hackers in germany and worldwide using any fingerprints or other personal data. The problem is one of global proportions. Mr whatever new you know but dont forget we have not been exactly state of the art for the last ten years. And theres room for improvement with encryption and the hardware itself for example in the market they get its the envy of the ordinary citizens have the right to expect top security for our data and thats not the case. It really is time to take action as that side stuart bowen says its name is presence and. We talk to officials at the German Parliament and at various government ministries about these security problems. And got this response from the interior ministry. The collection and or processing of personal data with or in Information Technology systems can be considered reasonably secure. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. The European Union needs to do more to prevent the misuse of data based on fingerprints. For years e. U. External border facilities have been using a scanner thats not secure. Star bug proved that by creating replica fingerprints that the scanner accepted as real. On a more sinister level terrorists also use these replicas to hide their identities. Last december police in turkey made a shocking discovery after raiding a suspected terrorist hideout in the city of care she hear. Their raid was filmed and we managed to get a copy of the video. The authorities arrested ten members of the Islamic State organization. They also found evidence indicating that the individuals had been using forged biometric identity data. To. Police seized castigation later determined that the suspect had used a fake prince to provide identification for money transfers. This suggests that terrorists are fully capable of using forged biometric data. Community lou and for until its clear that criminals and particularly terrorists are using this technology for the door but the perpetrators are able to steal fingerprints by hacking a database or they simply forge them. Do you do a version of the fake prints or then scanned into a specific database. That allows them to set up a fake identity profile that can then be used anywhere that uses fingerprints as a form of identification for figure politically like airports and passport facilities and unfortunately to dance with you. Its aware of. This data can also be used to open various kinds of secure accounts of thing up to commit up to is that dangerous. Its no big strain lee dangerous because we trust that biometric data for the whole but we often ignore or dont want to believe that its fairly easy to manipulate that data was pussy that. The illegal trade in digitized biometric data is booming id systems have become increasingly vulnerable governments and private Sector Companies are duty bound to protect our personal data because once that information falls into the hands of criminals its gone forever. For sarah willis planning to want to use a passion. Pastor to join her on her journey as a musical discovery. Its christmas time here in berlin and in the real thing to start super did in the end and sarah enjoys a christmas classic hansel and gretel by engelbert humperdinck. And fifteen minutes. Of living. The conflict zone on a sea of azam what impact are tensions between ukraine and russia having on peoples everyday lives. As old fears are still. To people there still have come. In thirty minutes on d w. Earth First Student school when the children. Are first clueless him and then he sure is grand the moment around him join hearing a tang on her journey to freedom in our interest of judgment three toronto entering into and returns home. They suited up the news life germanys governing body has a new leader needs and gave up on coke success so i think theyve probably got about she takes over america much of the conservative c. D. U. But not so strong stuff should be more of a concern to those vying for the top job also coming up. 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