Hackers may be able to copy your fingerprints from peace sign selfies

Posing for a picture while holding your fingers up in a peace sign may be the in-thing for celebrities and millennials but it could leave you open to being hacked.

Researchers at the National Institute of Informatics (NII) in Japan have discovered that fingerprints can actually be recreated from photos taken up to three metres away.

Alarmingly, hackers wouldn’t even need advanced technology as long as the picture is clear and well lit.

And with your fingerprints on their files, fraudsters can go on to access sensitive and personal information by using them to open phones and tablets.

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Professor Isao Echizen, a security and digital media researcher at the NII, told Sankei Shimbun: “Just by casually making a peace sign in front of a camera, fingerprints can become widely available.”

Unlike passwords, biometric security like fingerprints are much more difficult to change – making us susceptible to fraud for our entire lives.

Robert Capps, from biometrics company NuData Security, explained: “We shed physical biometric data wherever we go, leaving fingerprints on everything we touch, posting selfies on social media, and videos with friends and family.

“Much of this information can then be captured by fraudsters.

“Once biometric data is stolen and resold on the Dark Web, the risk of inappropriate access to a user’s accounts and identity will persist for that person’s lifetime.”

Experts are working on technology to improve biometric security, including fingerprint scanners that also analyses tissue and pulse.

Top pic: Rex