NEWS : TECH (NFPC)

A Unique 'Fingerprint' For Each Computer

The Internet isn't always anonymous; it's possible to identify a user via the Internet Protocol address unique to each computer accessing the Internet or Media Access Control address of some hardware. However, both of these identifiers can be faked with the right software. Now scientists have found another unique identifier that acts almost like a fingerprint for each individual computer: the graphics card.

Researchers from Technische Universiteit Eindhoven in the Netherlands, Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, and the Dutch security firm, Intrinsic ID, discovered that there are physical differences between graphics cards that can be detected by software.

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These differences can't be duplicated because they're a random result of producing millions of processors. The researchers dubbed the differences "physically unclonable functions found in standard PC components," or PUFFIN.

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"Such a "fingerprint" for a given piece of hardware would be most helpful to online gaming companies and the players. Heavy gamers tend to have high-end graphics cards and customized machines, so odds are they are accessing an online game, such as World of Warcraft from their own computer. This is a different situation than with a bank, which customers may access from a variety of machines such as their work computer or their personal laptop or even their smartphone.

An online gaming company would install the PUFFIN software on its servers. When a customer logged into the game, the software would scan the gamer's graphics card for its unique "fingerprint," and match it against the known fingerprint on file. If the log in name and password didn't match the fingerprint, the online gaming company could ask for additional authentication and if that didn't match, the company could block the user.

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The PUFFIN system isn't perfect. While it isn't possible to duplicate the hardware, it might be possible to duplicate the small differences in behavior on the part of the card. That's still a subject for further research. It's also worth noting that the identification is of the machine being used; it says nothing about who is using it. So someone might access a person's World of Warcraft account using the account holder's computer, and it would still look legitimate.  

The PUFFIN Project will run until 2015.

Via PUFFIN, Threatpost

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Fingerprints Could Glow for Future Forensics

That classic TV crime drama scene where the plucky forensic scientist dusts for fingerprints may become a thing of the past. Researchers from China’s Zhejiang University in Hangzhou have created a technique that makes fingerprints -- both old and new -- glow in exquisite detail without destroying them.

The method enlists electrochemiluminescence, a phenomenon that causes a chemical solution to light up when hit with an electrical charge. 

ANALYSIS: Why Some People Don't Develop Fingerprints

A fingerprint is pressed onto an electrode that's either in the form of indium tin oxide glass or a stainless steel sheet. The electrode is dipped into a specialized chemical solution. Oils, dirt and other particles in the fingerprint inhibit the electrochemiluminescence reaction, but the reaction could occur in the spaces in between. When a suitable voltage is applied to the electrode, the bare electrode surface, including the fingerprint's grooves, light up and can be imaged using a CCD camera sensor. A different chemical solution that sticks to the amino acids of the fingerprint does the opposite, causing the fingerprint's ridges to light up and not the areas in between.

Bin Su, the lead author on the research paper, which was published in the journal Angewandte Chemie, told Discovery News, "We can either make the substrate glow or the fingerprint glow."

Making the substrate glow produces a negative image; making the fingerprint glow produces a positive image. In either one, fine details in the fingerprints, like ridge patterns, branches and ends of lines and even pore size can be seen through this process.

The researchers tested this in a lab, but Bin Su said that the technique could be used in real life: "Fingerprints on real life substrates can be transferred by lifting them from the substrates to electrodes using a special tape. The process is simple and handy." Su said that his team also experimented with transferring fingerprints from different substrates including a coin, a desk, a computer screen and a disk.

BLOG: Fingerprints Lifted from Fabric

The researchers also found that their method could be used to determine whether the owner of the fingerprint had been using drugs. Because the signature of metabolized drugs are secreted through the pores in the hand, a solution designed to reveal them could be used to analyze the fingerprint for illegal substances.

This process is still being tested and isn’t ready for real-life implementation yet. Which gives studios plenty of time to adapt it into their next crime scene investigation show...CSI: China, anyone?

via PhysOrg 

Credit: Paul Taylor/Corbis

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DNA Could ID Serial Killer's Victims

Chicago-area detectives are using DNA evidence to determine the identities of eight young men murdered decades ago.

The eight were victims of John Wayne Gacy, who was convicted of murdering 33 boys and young men between 1972 and 1978. He was known as the “Killer Clown” because he would dress as one for charity events. Gacy was executed in Illinois in 1994.

Although 25 of his victims were identified, eight have remained anonymous until today. Now the Cook County Sheriff’s Department wants to use DNA techniques unavailable in the 1970s to identify them.

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When the murders originally occurred, the only way to identify a body was via fingerprints or dental records. The unidentified bodies were all of men in their late teens and early 20s, but officials had no dental or fingerprint records and so it was impossible to say who the men were.

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Just in case dental records came to light, the pathologists at the time removed the upper and lower jawbones of the unidentified victims. Those bones were buried in 2009. Last week, investigators obtained a court order to exhume the jawbones and analyze the DNA. Of the eight remains, four contained enough material that could be successfully analyzed, but the other four could not. So detectives had to locate the graves where the bodies had been buried and exhume more remains, in those cases femurs and vertebrae.

The DNA used to identify the bodies is nuclear DNA, which is contributed by both parents. That means a match can be made with even a relatively distant relative, such as a cousin. But it still means a relative has to offer a sample to compare. The sherrif's office is asking anyone who reported a relative missing in the 1970s to come forward in the hopes that they get a match.

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Some victims may not have been reported missing. One reason is that 30 years ago, the stigma against young gay men was stronger. (Gacy’s murders often involved luring young men back to his home for sex). And in other cases, the young men could have been wards of the state or had already left home before meeting Gacy. They wouldn't have been reported missing. At the same, other people had insisted their son had been a victim of Gacy, but had no evidence to back.

Now, for at least some, that question can be answered.

Via Associated Press

Image: Bettmann/Corbis

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FBI To Roll Out Face Recognition System

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is setting up a system to recognize faces, with the goal of putting a name to a mug already known.

It's called the Next Generation Identification system. By mid-January, selected states will have access to the FBI database, allowing local law enforcement to match faces with names. Basically, a state policeman could enter the photo of a suspect and see if that person is among the millions of mug shots the FBI has. The system would come up with several candidates, and the local police would pick the ones that most closely resembled the face that was entered. With that, they would get the names associated with those faces and be able to narrow down the possibilities.

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Currently an FBI agent has to know a name of a suspect to get a record of that person. So without knowing say, John Smith's name, it is impossible to figure out whether he is the right John Smith in that photo of a "person of interest" or possible criminal suspect.

The first states to test this out are Michigan, Washington, Florida and North Carolina. By 2014 it should be rolled out to the whole country. Part of the process will be local law enforcement uploading photos of people as they are booked.

Facial recognition technology has gotten a lot better in the past several years, and versions of it are already deployed by Google an Facebook. But there are still some issues to be worked out.

On the technical side, there are concerns about errors in the database. Google and Facebook use several photos of a person to match the face to the name, whereas the FBI will usually only have one mug shot. And mistakes can and do happen, even with supposedly reliable identification techniques such as fingerprints. Fingerprints were used in 2004 to flag an Oregon man named Brandon Mayfield as a material witness in the Madrid bombings, even though he hadn't left the United States in at least a decade.

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On the civil liberties front, there are concerns that if local the local police upload photos of people as they are arrested, the FBI would end up with a database of people who were not necessarily convicted of anything. (Think of the average protest march, where many people can end up in police custody, at least for a while). Another problem is how much coordination there will be between immigration enforcement, for example, and the FBI. Immigrant rights advocates have asked if foreigners will be risking deportation because their faces are in an FBI database, even if they aren't convicted of anything or have committed a minor offense. (The Department of Homeland Security already matches fingerprints of booked offenders with the FBI database to see if people are in the country illegally).

Via NextGov

Image: U.S. Dept. of Justice via Wikiedia Commons

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Bulletproof Skin Made From Spider Silk

Just last week we learned about spiders coming to the aid of burn victims. Now it looks like our friendly neighborhood arachnids are being used to create the ultimate superhero power: bulletproof human skin.

Well, almost.

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In her new project, 2.6g 329m/s, Dutch artist Jalila Essaidi, along with Forensic Genomics Consortium Netherlands, created a swatch of nearly bulletproof skin made from spider silk and human skin cells. The project takes its name from the maximum weight and velocity a Type 1 bulletproof vest can withstand from a .22 calibre Long Rifle bullet.

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By grafting spider silk between the epidermis and dermis, the skin was able to stop a bullet that was fired at a reduced speed. However, it failed to repel a bullet that was fired at normal speed from a .22 calibre rifle.

But that's fine with Essaidi. She's more interested in the conversation that her project will generate.

"With this work I want to show that safety in its broadest sense is a relative concept, and hence the term bulletproof," Essaidi said in a press release. "The work did stop some partially slowed bullets but not the one at full speed."

"But even with the skin pierced by the bullet the experiment is still a success. It leads to the conversation about how which form of safety would benefit society."

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The project is part of an exhibition called Designers & Artists 4 Genomics at the Naturalis biodiversity museum in Leiden, Netherlands. The exhibit runs until Jan. 8, 2012.

[Via TechNewsDaily]

photo: A bullet is repelled by a matrix of spider silk and human skin cells. Forensic Genomics Consortium of the Netherlands

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Suitcase-Sized Device Detects Anthrax

Researchers at Cornell University have put a complete anthrax analysis lab onto a computer chip. The suitcase-sized anthrax detector has fluid-pumping, power and computation equipment nicely packed into a 1 centimeter by 3 centimeter space. The so-called microfluidic device integrates sample purification and real-time DNA analysis chambers as well.

The detector only needs a small biological sample. Insert the sample and the machine automatically picks up cells and separates the DNA, which is then analyzed in real-time. These kinds of tests normally require a full-sized lab and take days. With this system, tests can be done in the field more quickly and easily, and the inventors claim it can detect anthrax even if only a few dozen spores are present.

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To build this device, which took several years, the researchers started with the idea of fitting a portable lab in a given space, as opposed to starting with the capabilities they needed. That put constraints on what they could do, but it also helped them focus on what was important. This system could be adapted to any other pathogen, or be used in forensics as well -- imagine being able to test DNA at a crime scene without having to wait for lab results to come back.

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The authors, Nathaniel Cady and Carl Batt, published his results in the International Journal of Biomedical Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, and hope to improve it further. mostly by changing the way it pumps fluids internally.

 

Image: Kent Loeffler, Cornell University

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Take Your Cellphone or iPad Underwater

aLoksak IT: Starting at $6.49 per three-pack

On a summer outing, the clean air, warm sand and cool water may be refreshing for you, but they're certainly no day at the beach for your devices. Those elements spell potential disaster for the phone, e-reader and tablet you choose to bring along. Putting them in an aLoksak allows you not only to store your devices safely, but also still use them -- touch screen and all, even when swimming or scuba diving. Constructed using FDA-approved medical-grade film, these recyclable polyethylene bags are also good for protecting money, food, documents, batteries, medications, keyless entry devices and other items from air, dust and moisture.

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Make no mistake, though: these bags are tough. They've been tested by the U.S. Navy Experimental Diving Unit team and certified waterproof to 200 feet by Scuba Schools International (formerly NASDS). And they're temperature rated from negative 40 degrees to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Size-wise, the super baggies are available in a wide range, from 3 by 6 inches to 32 by 16 inches.

Credit: Loksak

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Fingerprints Lifted from Fabric

Scottish police have paired up with forensics experts from the University of Abertay Dundee to make lifting fingerprints from fabric possible for the first time. The technique, which has been around since the 1970's, was only usable on smooth surfaces. But researchers have now figured out a way to use it on fabric.

Specifically, the process is called vacuum metal deposition (VDM) and works like this: Forensics scientists put fabrics into a vacuum chamber, where gold can be evaporated and spread evenly as a thin film onto the material. Then they do the same thing with zinc, which attaches to the gold only in areas that haven't been touched by hands. The final picture looks like a film negative, revealing the miniscule skin ridges that form the characteristic whorls, loops and arches of a hand or fingerprint.

If you're like me, you might think looking for fingerprints at a crime scene is a dated technique, more of a hassle than anything. Isn't DNA fingerprinting far more accurate and sophisticated anyway? In reality though, fingerprints are still lifted at many crime scenes and offer clues beyond just identification of a perpetrator. The placement and orientation of prints on doors, windows or other surfaces can offer insights about what was going on and how and event unfolded -- did the perpretrator climb out of the window? Why was he looking through the closet or the medicine cabinet?

So the more prints, the more clues. And lifting prints off fabric opens up a whole new set of information. Moreover, as Scottish fingerprint expert Paul Deacon put it in the university's news release, “Fingerprints left on fabric and other surfaces can leave DNA traces, so it can also help forensic scientists to visualise the best area to target on an item of clothing to recover DNA evidence."

Because the researchers only classify about 20 percent of people as "good donors" for fabric print-lifting, this attribute along with the potential to piece together a time line from the scene might prove to be the real strength of the technique. And if VMD is already an established method of getting prints, I can't see a drawback to applying it to more materials from a crime scene -- the more puzzle pieces, the better.

Photo: University of Abertay Dundee/Scottish Police Services Authority

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