The practice of posing with a V sign in photos has become a habit for many, including famous figures such as Apple CEO Tim Cook and former US President Donald Trump. However, this action has repeatedly been warned against in terms of security, especially when taken too close.
For instance, during the reality show The Firsts in the Workplace: Finance Season in April, Hongguan News (China) quoted risk management expert Li Chang warning singer Gao Qingchen that creating a V sign at a distance of less than 1.5 meters could expose fingerprint data, opening the opportunity for identity thieves to steal online identities.
According to Chang, with today’s high-resolution cameras, if the lens focuses directly on the finger at this distance, fingerprint information can be extracted 100%. From 1.5 to 3 meters, the data retrieval rate is 50%. Devices can only fail to recognize fingerprints if the photo is taken from more than 3 meters away. This issue is even more serious in the context of advanced AI tools, which can clearly reproduce fingerprint patterns, thereby increasing accuracy.
Bryan Lopez, a cybersecurity and AI expert at Microsoft, stated that in reality, most smartphones and many authentication systems are equipped with fingerprint sensors, making exploitation entirely possible. While passwords or PINs can be easily changed, fingerprints are unique to each individual, thus the impact is significantly greater.
“The threat is real and is increasingly rising but has not been adequately assessed,” Lopez told Newsweek regarding the habit of posing with a V sign in photos. “Things that previously required forensic lab resources are now within the reach of untrained individuals.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook is one of the celebrities who frequently poses with a V sign in photos. Photo: Tuan Hung
Apple CEO Tim Cook is one of the celebrities who frequently poses with a V sign in photos. Photo: Tuan Hung
Earlier, there had been several warnings about this photo-taking habit. For instance, according to Japan Times, in 2016, scientists at the National Institute of Information Technology in Japan published a study showing that hackers could exploit photos with a V sign to gather users’ fingerprint information, thereby finding ways to bypass fingerprint security layers on smartphones and other mobile devices.
Although rare, the collection of fingerprints from photos has been documented. In 2014, hacker Jan Krissler claimed to have taken close-up photos of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s thumb from various angles at a press event and recreated it. That same year, a security research group from the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken stated they could reproduce fingerprints from photos with the help of Photoshop, printers, and glue.
“High-resolution cameras can easily capture enough detail of fingerprint patterns from images on social media, which can then be recreated using AI tools,” Lopez said.
However, many experts do not believe fingerprints can be easily collected. “It sounds like something out of a spy novel or a Mission Impossible movie,” said Vyas Sekar, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, to CBS News.
Others argue that while the situation could occur, the risk for ordinary people is very low. “You are more likely to get hit by a car tomorrow than to have your fingerprints collected from a photo for malicious purposes,” said Professor Justin Cappos from New York University, a cybersecurity expert whose research has been applied by Google and Palantir.
Agreeing, Sekar noted that targets must have a “high-value” factor, such as having access to important security premises. But even with a clear image of a fingerprint, a hacker would need to be “quite determined,” as the process of retrieval would require a scanner, analysis systems, real fingerprint recreation, and a target device to apply it.
“I don’t think cybercriminals are trying to steal people’s photos at any scale,” Cappos said. “In about 10 years, it’s uncertain whether hackers will use them for a common attack method. But for now, that hasn’t happened.”
According to NYPost, to mitigate risks, experts suggest ways to protect oneself, such as avoiding posting high-resolution images or palm-facing shots, limiting the sharing of personal images with biometric elements like hands and faces; using multiple fingerprints on one hand for multi-factor authentication instead of just one finger…
Bao Lam compiled the information.
