Your peace sign may bring you danger

Doing the two fingers that symbolise “peace” or form the letter “V” when taking pictures or selfies is very common in today’s social lifestyle. But are you aware that this can be used as an instrument of crime? Showing your fingers in peace signs, high fives, or the like in photos posted online could lead to criminals stealing your fingerprints. 

According to The South China Morning Post,  September 20th, 2019,  Zhang Wei, the Vice Director of the Shanghai Information Security Trade Association reminded people not to take photos with these signs at close range. Zang said that photos with two fingers forming the “V” sign should not be taken from a distance of less than 3 metres if it were to be uploaded on the internet.

According to Zang, a photo depicting the peace sign taken within a distance of 1.5 metres can be duplicated 100 percent to become a perfect fingerprint, whereas if taken from a distance of 1.5 to 3 metres it can be duplicated up to 50 percent accuracy.

Yes, fingerprints on both fingers seen on the camera can be taken by irresponsible parties by utilising sophisticated technologies. The extracted fingerprint can then be used to access a number of important information belonging to the victim such as door access, banking payments and more. 

For this reason, people need to always be aware and check the level of clarity of their fingerprints by enlarging the photos taken before uploading them to the internet or social media. You may not remember being in a group photograph of everyone waving or posing the peace sign; but if such a photo exists criminals may find it if they want to.