Sticky Fingers

The Next Big Data Breach
By Allan Holmes

Peter Swire, who served as the Clinton administration's chief counselor for privacy in the Office of Management and Budget for two years, had a dire warning today for the Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee: Biometric data, namely fingerprints, is the next security breach waiting to happen. The federal government -- including the FBI, the State Department and the Homeland Security Department's U.S. VISIT program as well as its border agents -- have collected millions of fingerprints. And digital fingerprints are becoming a more acceptable means to identify just about anyone, including using them to gain access to a computer. And the federal government is collecting fingerprints on all government employees and contractors for its new ID badges under Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12. That's a lot of fingerprints.

"It’s not that hard to fake a fingerprint," Swire told the panel. "Google it and you can find a way to fake one for less than 10 bucks."

It's true. A Google search for "fake fingerprint" returns a whole page on how to fake a fingerprint -- even a You Tube video. And most don't even charge for the information.

Swire recommends Congress require agencies to encrypt the fingerprints to protect them from theft.