Fingerprint scanners on PCs or laptops have had a pretty shaky history. For the most part, they’ve been alright, however, in 2012, UPEK fingerprint scanners managed to completely wipe out every security measure for every Windows account.
Of course, that was a decade ago and fingerprint scanners have come a long way since then.
Biometrics makes access convenient, which is part of the reason they’re so popular. But popular and secure often stand for very different things.
So are laptop fingerprint scanners truly secure?
Are Laptop Fingerprint Scanners Secure?
For the most part, fingerprint scanners are pretty secure. The information gathered from your first fingerprint scan is stored locally, on the device itself. Physical access, with a near-perfect fingerprint mold, is necessary to access the device by fingerprint alone.
As we share more high-resolution photos, videos, and audio of ourselves on social media, the risk of our biometric data being stolen is on the increase.
And if you think that sounds a little far-fetched, fingerprints have already been successfully extracted from photos of exposed fingers from as far as three meters away.
But someone hacking your laptop with a fingerprint extracted from a photo of you online is pretty unlikely.
In fact, the way most hackers access biometric devices is through weak passwords and PIN numbers. Most devices will allow an alternative to biometric access, such as entering your password or PIN number. This is the point of ingress for most hackers.
Since laptops, PCs, and smartphones store your biometric information on the device itself, you never have to worry about anyone getting your fingerprint scan from the cloud, which is where your passwords and PIN numbers are stored.
Fingerprint scanners are highly convenient and, with the onset of facial recognition login methods, many consumers were a bit upset about the switch. This forced manufacturers to continue making the fingerprint access method available on their devices.
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Biometrics has one, major flaw. When access is compromised, it’s compromised forever. If a thief were to ever get ahold of your fingerprints, you can never securely use your fingerprint access again. You can change your password as much as you want but you can’t change your fingerprints.
There are three types of fingerprint scanners in active use today.
Ultrasound scanners are the most secure of the three. Ultrasound scanners use a signal that basically works like echolocation in bats. It bounces back and forth between the high and low points of your fingerprints.
Since it creates a three-dimensional scan of your fingerprints, it’s difficult for a thief to just make a copy of your fingerprints.
The copy would have to be a perfect, three-dimensional mold. It can’t be something that’s flat. A flat piece of paper with a perfect replica of your fingerprint won’t work.
Who Should Buy a Laptop with a Fingerprint Scanner?
People who use their laptops at home are the only ones who should go for a laptop solely because of the fingerprint scanning feature. As we mentioned above, copying your fingerprints is how a thief would access your laptop or by breaching a simplified password.
If your laptop is going to be exposed to a lot of people each and every day, there is a higher chance that someone will successfully replicate your fingerprint. No matter where you have your laptop or how you access it, you should always create a unique and thoroughly complex password for entry.
Never go with something that is easily associated with you, such as birthdays, names of family members, pet names, or things like that. It should include letters, numbers, and symbols and it should also be longer than ten characters.
This way, if anyone ever goes around your fingerprint, they will have a very hard time getting past your password access.
Conclusion
Laptop fingerprint scanners are decently secure but they still don’t reach the level of a complicated password.
It’s best to have a laptop with biometric access at home only. Plus, there is the drawback that once your fingerprints are compromised, they are compromised forever.
