Murder victim’s phone unlocked with paper fingerprint after 3D printing fails

Researchers who attempted to unlock a murder victim's phone using a 3D printed replica of one of his fingers were forced to use an alternative method last week, after the models produced were found not to be accurate enough to gain access. The team from Michigan State University was asked by police to gain access to the phone, which was eventually unlocked with a 2D image of the dead man's fingerprints, enhanced manually to fill in gaps in the original image, and rendered on conductive paper.

Both 2D and 3D versions of the dead man's fingerprints were produced, but the poor quality of the original image kept in police files stymied the efforts of the team, led by professor Anil Jain. After a failed first attempt, the team used an image...

Continue reading…

Murder victim’s phone unlocked with paper fingerprint after 3D printing fails
Read More