Fingerprint Recognition - Computerphile

Fingerprint scanners are everywhere, Dr Isaac Triguero talks about how your fingerprint can identify you.

Data Analysis: COMING SOON

This video was filmed and edited by Sean Riley.

[LeftPinkie]

Can you do a follow-up video and explain:
- how many points are used to a match
- are these thresholds implemented differently or is there a standard
- when some fp detector is faster than others, does it mean they lower the matching threshold
- what is the likelihood of a false positive? They say our fp are unique but it sounds like there could be many overlaps when the fp matching algorithm is matching only a few characteristics.

[lohphat]

Storing a copy of biometric data creates a risk of unauthorized duplication of the original data which could be used to falsely incriminate someone by replicating and then planting a copy to frame an innocent person.

A proper technique would use a one-way hash function to summarize the data so that it can be used to match later samples but can’t be used to fabricate an original copy.

[powdermcdust]

The only problem with fingerprent scanners is that you leave the key on everything you touch lol.

[MrDaanjanssen]

Nice to see a video on this. I am myself working on a small project that is on fingerprint recognition by geometric reasoning. Roughly how mine works; intensity isophotes (think of a heightmap) run tangent to the ridges of a fingerprint. The feature detector that I constructed is able to detect the high curvature of these isophotos at the ends of these ridges. Besides the high curvature, ends of ridges are also characterized by a high intensity gradient. Combining these factors will give a detector that recognizes the edges of the ridges (There are nice mathematical formulas that can be applied on a local region with appropriated scales that detect these). Interestingly, exactly the same procedure can be used for the detection of bifurcations, since these have exactly the same structure when the image intensity is inverted!

[puskajussi]

Here is an idea for a video: we're all familiar with long integers, double precision floats and whatnot, but how do computers deal with truly massive numbers, such as come from finding big primes?

[saintchuck]

This is Computerphile, has no one thought to do a screen capture or mirroring or anything other than camera over the shoulder or at a crappy angle with no zoom?

[jambonsupreme]

Fingerprints are easy to acquire and impossible to replace once they are leaked. I prefer passwords for now

[harrytsang]

CGP Grey will be annoyed by the fact that someone is using pages to annotate an image


However, that pencil is still enjoying a better life than Brady's, only used once as a weapon to deter a bee

[hcblue]

Oh man, more of Dr. Triguero please! :D

[goethe]

Do not try to trick us, by putting your tablat on a stack of paper. You are violating the rules - pen and paper only!

[peschebichsu]

Great video. Does anyone have some more resources (or tips how to find them) about the matching algorithm. Like finding a part of it and also when it's in another direction, how is it achieved?

[drew]

Would be nice, if you could do a follow up on how the identification of interesting points on the fingerprint image works and how the matching algorithm works. Thanks for the video!

[dhess]

Great video! Nice job Brady and Dr Triguero!

[MladenMijatov]

Fingerprints should *never* be used for authentication. Only identification. If they are used for authentication, it's basically a password you are leaving everywhere an on everything you touch.

[alexios]

Is possible to change your fingerprints with a laser operation?

[lucasnathan]

Is it possible to restore (or build) a fingerprint image (with the same characteristics of the original fingerprint) from the fingerprint characteristics file?

[SmartLifeEnthusiast]

I'd love to see an explanation on how this data is stored and how it's matched against a finger press, especially in the context of an encrypted device.
So: how do you use a fingerprint to authenticate and decrypt the master decryption key?

[josephjohannes]

Fun fact: fingerprints are actually not at all unique. In 2004, a lawyer from Oregon was arrested because his fingerprint was found at the scene after the Madrid train bombings, but it later turned out that his fingerprint matched the one of one of the terrorists responsible. In the USA there are on average 7 people with a 12-point match between their fingerprints, which means there are around 150 people around the world that have the same fingerprint as you (within the accuracy of a 12-point test).

[MoritzvonSchweinitz]

Is there a standard algorithm of sorts for rotational and scalable feature, or rather point, matching?
i.e., given two sets of a couple of dots with coordinates, check if they are the same pattern, independent of rotation and scaling?

[danielchmiel]

Where are all those hackers stealing fingerprint featured in this video?