Monday, 22 January 2018

Reconstruct Fingerprint from Template ?

  

If that is possible then it may also be possible to reverse the process ( of generation of Random Number ) and uncover the REAL / ORIGINAL Aadhar Number from UIDAI web site generated RANDOM NUMBER ?



In my blog ,




I wrote :


Now , not being a mathematician or a software geek , I have following stupid questions , which , I hope the experts ( including those of UIDAI ) may want to answer :


·         Are VIRTUAL ID numbers generated using some Random Number Generator ( such as PRNG =  Pseudo Random Number Generator / TRNG = True Random Number Generator ) ?


·         Do both types of Generators depend upon some software algorithm ? ( - a somewhat deterministic logic )


·         Considering the Aadhar Virtual ID requirement ( viz : generation of data encryption keys ) , is it more likely that UIDAI is using TRNG ?



·         If , given a starting number ( original / real Aadhar Number ) , TRNG generates a “ linked “ RANDOM NUMBER , is it possible to REVERSE this process ?


·         Using BIG DATA  /  DATA ANALYTICS  /  Artificial Intelligence /  MACHINE LEARNING etc , can one figure out the ORIGINAL / REAL Aadhar Number , from its counter-part Virtual Number ?



Over a period of  few months , it is likely that the servers of those Agencies , may have billions of  sets of linked “ Real Numbers / Virtual Numbers “

   
Could such a large enough database ( if some hacker can lay his hand on it ) , be enough for a software geek to design a Neural Network backward propagation / forward propagation ) , to reverse the process ?


I am tempted to believe that such a scenario is entirely possible !




Hindustan Times ( 21 Jan ) carries following news :







Extract :

From database to fingerprint
Biometrics are protected by encryption and by condensing fingerprints into templates obtained by using software to extract unique features of a given print.
But encrypted data needs decryption keys, which may be leaked if a database is accessed by multiple users.
Templates do not offer total security either.
“There was a misconception that a template cannot be inverted, but that is not true anymore,” said Anil Jain, Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Michigan State University. “ It is possible to use a template to reconstruct a fingerprint to a high degree of accuracy.
The reconstructed fingerprint, Prof. Jain has shown, can be used to build spoof fingerprints that fool most biometric readers.



I do not expect anyone from UIDAI / IT Ministry to comment on this possibility of “ Process Reversal “ but I do hope they continue to improvise Aadhar




23  Jan  2018


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