The world can be an unfair and cruel place. Seriously, nothing is safe anymore—even our lippies might be in danger. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, now we have to worry about our selfies, too.
Researchers from Japan’s National Institute of Informatics (NII) found that fingerprints can be easily copied from photos taken by smartphones. How scary does that sound?! We’ve advanced so much in the field of technology that something so common can be used to steal personal information.
If a photo is taken from three meters away, a hacker can mimic your prints and use them to open phones and tablets.
Robert Capps, who works for biometrics company NuData Security, said, "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."
He continued, "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.”
Ugh—is it really time to retire the ultimate selfie pose?
This story originally appeared on Cosmo.ph.
* Minor edits have been made by the Femalenetwork.com editors.
