WHEN a gang of carjackers struck in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, last week, they didnāt just make off with the car. They chopped off the tip of one of the driverās fingers and took that too.
The gang struck on 28 March and first forced the victim of the crime to activate the carās fingerprint-recognition system to start the engine. But when they realised the fingerprint would be needed every time the car was started, they cut off his fingertip and dumped him at the roadside.
āRealising they would need the fingerprint to start the car, the gang cut off his fingertipā
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The crime has led to calls that biometric systems should work only if the necessary body part ā a finger or an eye, say ā is attached to a living person. The case demonstrates the need for āliveness detectionā, says biometrics expert Farzin Deravi of the University of Kent, UK. A fingerprint sensor could be developed that detects sweat, for example, rendering an amputated fingertip useless after 15 minutes. āVendors are not pursuing liveness detection vigorously enough,ā he says.
