Selfie fans warned about peace sign pose after fingerprints 'stolen' from photo
In what is sure to be a blow to all selfie-stick wielding tourists, researches have successfully copied fingerprint data from a photograph of a man flashing the peace sign.
Questions are now being raised about potential privacy breaches after Japanese National Institute of Informatics professor Isao Echizen extracted his own fingerprints from a digital photograph.
"One can use it to assume another identity, such as accessing a smartphone or breaking and entering into a restricted area such as an apartment," Prof Echizen told Fairfax.
It's thought that celebrities may be among those targeted the most, given their every move is often documented and photographed.
The two finger salute is a common pose for tourists, giving Prof Echizen and his fellow researcher Tateo Ogane the idea to try and steal the data from a photograph.
As smart phones and personal electronic devices continue to advance, the use of numerical pin codes has quickly been replaced by fingerprint recognition software, prompting concerns that privacy breaches of this nature might be on the horizon.
"Fingerprint authentication is used for many purposes, including smartphones, and each manufacturer decides how the authentication process is maintained," Yasutaka Imai added.
While the technology required to extract fingerprint data from a photograph remains out of reach for the average joe, the public might want to re-think their choice of pose.
