WHEN a gang of carjackers struck in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, last week, they didn't just make off with the car. They chopped off the tip of one of the driver's fingers and took that too.
The gang struck on 28 March and first forced the victim of the crime to activate the car's 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.
"Realising they would need the fingerprint to start the car, the gang cut off his fingertip"The crime has led to calls that biometric systems should work only if the necessary body part - a finger or an eye, say - is attached to a living person. The case demonstrates the need for "liveness detection", 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. "Vendors are not pursuing liveness detection vigorously enough," he says.
Wow, I that sucks. I'm sure fingerprint activated alarm systems arn't cheap - making that a double whammy.
The owner of the car basically paid for a finger amputation.
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Kevin Pierson
wow? desperate enough to cut someones finger off and gank there car, that would suck... what kind of car? sounds like a BMW or something expensive... either way... no fingerprint starter for me