Thinkpad fingerprint

[G0AOZ]

May have to do some work (disk cloning etc.) shortly on a Thinkpad with the fingerprint security feature enabled. I presume it's best to get the owner to disable it under IBM's Fingerprint Control Centre?

One other question springs to mind... What happens on a system that's crashed and won't boot? Can the Fingerprint Control Centre be manipulated (e.g. turned off, etc.) from a boot with another system like ERD Commander, XP CD Repair Console, or similar?

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[BadBigBen]

probably...

I can even get past it being active, all I need is Elmer's Glue and a nice fingerprint from the owner (there usually are hundreds on the case or even the screen)...

Fingerprint Recognition at the Supermarket as insecure as Biometrics in Passports

http://www.ccc.de/press/releases/2007/20071127/index.xml.en?language=en

Biometric Recognition Gets the Middle Finger

http://blog.blazingangles.net/whatsthis/2007/08/biometric-recognition-gets-the.html

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[G0AOZ]

Thanks for that Ben, interesting... No doubt despite this the Government will press on ahead with biometrics.

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[wahnula]

My wife has a Lenovo with fingerprint reader, it also carries a text password with it, in the event of service etc. I do not believe you are able to have the fingerprint reader as the sole source of security.

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[BadBigBen]

G0AOZ, the EU (at least Germany) is going along that same road now, since the US made it a prerequisite to entering the country...

wahnula, you shouldn't have the fingerprint as a sole security source anyways... if one has very important / top security data on a laptop, they should chain it to their body...

a coworker of mine uses encryption software that is stored on a USB stick, which he always carries on his person, without it the laptop will not boot...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[G0AOZ]

Tony, perhaps you can deliberately corrupt a few files on your wife's laptop, and then tell us how easy or difficult it is to get in and sort it!

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[wahnula]

As long as the files corrupted do not deal with booting the PC I don't see it as a problem. Like I said, it also HAS to have a text "backdoor" for you to configure the biometric reader.

Tony

Users helping Users...