Friday, May 17, 2002

Fun with fingerprint readers Excerpted from Bruce Schneier's CRYPTO-GRAM, May 15, 2002 Tsutomu Matsumoto, a Japanese cryptographer, recently decided to look at biometric fingerprint devices that attempt to identify people based on their fingerprint. For years the companies selling these devices have claimed that they are very secure, and that it is almost impossible to fool them into accepting a fake finger as genuine. Matsumoto, along with his students at the Yokohama National University, showed that they can be reliably fooled with a little ingenuity and $10 worth of household supplies. [...] http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram-0205.html#5 [They were able to spoof *all* of the machines, 80% or more of the time. PGN (corrected in archive copy)] [Monty Solomon via risks-digest Volume 22, Issue 08] 21:27 # G!

Hackers Expose Consumer Info from Ford, Experian Ford Motor Credit informed 13,000 consumers Friday that their personal information -- including Social Security number, address, account number and payment history -- was accessed by hackers who broke into a database belonging to the Experian credit reporting agency. Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent Dawn Clenney told NewsFactor that the data breach is being investigated and that law enforcement is working with Ford, which believes the hack occurred sometime between April 2001 and February 2002. Letters to the 13,000 people, 400 of whom were Ford credit customers, were mailed out in the last three weeks, Ford Motor Credit spokesperson Melinda Wilson told NewsFactor. [Newsfactor] 11:09 # G!

Update: Feds seize equipment from 'Deceptive Duo' suspect The FBI has seized computer equipment, including hardware, software and other peripherals, from the home of Robert George Lyttle, who is suspected of being a member of the hacking group known as the Deceptive Duo, according to the search warrant executed Monday by the agency's San Francisco office. The Deceptive Duo has claimed responsibility for hacking and defacing government and public-sector Web sites. According to the warrant, the Deceptive Duo is responsible for defacing at least 52 sites. In a telephone conversation with Computerworld, Lyttle, 18, said he hasn't been arrested. But he wouldn't comment on the allegations that he is a member of the Deceptive Duo, saying he is under a court order not to talk about the case. He referred questions to his San Francisco-based attorney, who couldn't be reached for comment. [Computerworld] 10:56 # G!