Hackers get hold of fingerprints for 1.1 million US public servants

[elsiegee40]

Seeing as system security is so much in debate at the moment....

 

 

How Much Damage Can the OPM Hackers Do With a Million Fingerprints? - NationalJournal.com

 

Part of the worry, cybersecurity experts say, is that fingerprints are part of an exploding field of biometric data, which the government is increasingly getting in the business of collecting and storing. Fingerprints today are used to run background checks, verify identities at borders, and unlock smartphones, but the technology is expected to boom in the coming decades in both the public and private sectors.

Also problematic is that there is "no way to reissue a fingerprint," Lee said, meaning that once a set is in the hands of a foreign adversary they are vulnerable as long as that person is working in government.

[pcstru]

That is interesting.

 

Other hacks in the news : Hackers Threaten to Expose 37 Million Cheating Ashley Madison Users.

[elsiegee40]

It remains to be seen whether the unencrypted prints were taken or whether it's the code generated by that fingerprint. If it's the latter then obviously, a new code system could be used and everyone's prints would have to be retaken and a new code generated for each person... new fingers not required