Jan Krissler

Jan Krissler
Jan Krissler
Nationality	German
Other names	Starbug
Occupation	hacker
Known for	Biometry hacking

Jan Krissler, better known by his pseudonym starbug, is a German computer scientist and hacker. He is best known for his work on defeating biometric systems, most prominently the iPhone's TouchID.^[1] He is also an active member of the German and European hacker community.

Fingerprints of prominent German politicians

Krissler, along with Chaos Computer Club published the fingerprints of then Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble as a means of protest as well as proof of concept. He shot traces of a glass used by Schäuble using a digital camera and tweaked it digitally.^[2]^[3] Previously, Schäubles Ministry of the Interior had introduced biometric passports which included a digital copy of the holder's fingerprint.

He further refined the attack in 2014 when he reproduced Minister of Defense Ursula von der Leyen's fingerprint from a high resolution press photo. The attack was presented during 2014's Chaos Communication Congress.^[4]

In 2014, Neurotechnology's "VeriFinger" was used by Jan Krissler to recreate the German defense minister Ursula von der Leyen's fingerprint.^[5]

Scientific work

Aside from his activities and popular papers published as an activist, Krissler is also a published scientist. His early works looked into the security of biometric systems.^[6] Later, Krissler researched the foundations of optic fibre systems^[7]^[8] and the development of novel attacks on smart cards.^[9]

From 2014 onwards, his work has focused on novel methods of defeating biometric systems. He is internationally recognized for his research on the risks emanating from high resolution smartphone cameras, which may allow malicious actors to covertly steal fingerprints.^[10] Deficiencies in biometric payment systems is another field of his research.^[11]

Currently, Krissler is a research assistant at TU Berlin^[12] working with Jean-Pierre Seifert's research group.

References

^ Alex Hern (2014-12-30). "Hacker fakes German minister's fingerprints using photos of her hands". TheGuardian.com. Retrieved 2018-08-21.
^ "Datenschutz: Schäubles Zeigefinger gehackt", Zeit Online (in German), retrieved 2018-08-20
^ Kleinman, Zoe (2014-12-29). "Fingerprint 'cloned from photos'". BBC News. Retrieved 2018-09-01.
^ CCC (29 December 2014). "Ich sehe, also bin ich ... Du". Retrieved 2018-08-20.
^ "Hacker fakes German minister's fingerprints using photos of her hands". the Guardian. 2014-12-30. Retrieved 2023-01-05.
^ Lisa Thalheim, Jan Krissler, Peter-Michael Ziegler (November 2002), Heise (ed.), "Body Check Biometric Access Protection Devices and their Programs Put to the Test", C't (in German), vol. 2002, no. 11, Hannover: Heise, p. 114{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Guggi Kofod, Denis N. Mc Carthy, Jan Krissler, Günter Lang, Grace Jordan (2009-05-18), "Electroelastic optical fiber positioning with submicrometer accuracy: Model and experiment", Applied Physics Letters (in German), vol. 94, no. 20, p. 202901, Bibcode:2009ApPhL..94t2901K, doi:10.1063/1.3134002, ISSN 0003-6951{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Norbert Arndt-Staufenbiel, Guenter Lang, Jan Krissler, Henning Schroeder, Wolfgang Scheel (2004-04-07), "Specific glass fiber technologies: Lensing and laser fusion", in Pistora, Jaromir; Postava, Kamil; Hrabovsky, Miroslav; Rawat, Banmali S (eds.), Microwave and Optical Technology 2003, SPIE Proceedings (in German), vol. 5445, SPIE, pp. 83–87, Bibcode:2004SPIE.5445...83A, doi:10.1117/12.558095, S2CID 109589360, retrieved 2018-08-21{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Clemens Helfmeier, Dmitry Nedospasov, Christopher Tarnovsky, Jan Starbug Krissler, Christian Boit (2013-11-04), "Breaking and entering through the silicon", Proceedings of the 2013 ACM SIGSAC conference on Computer & communications security - CCS '13 (in German), ACM, pp. 733–744, doi:10.1145/2508859.2516717, ISBN 9781450324779, S2CID 1571884{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Tobias Fiebig, Jan Krissler, and Ronny Hänsch (August 2014). "Security Impact of High Resolution Smartphone Cameras | USENIX". Workshop on Offensive Technologies (WOOT). USENIX Association. Retrieved 2018-08-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Julian Fietkau, Starbug, and Jean-Pierre Seifert (August 2018). "Swipe Your Fingerprints! How Biometric Authentication Simplifies Payment, Access and Identity Fraud | USENIX". Workshop on Offensive Technologies (WOOT). USENIX Association. Retrieved 2018-08-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ TU Berlin. "Institut für Softwaretechnik und Theoretische Informatik: Jan Krissler" (in German). Retrieved 2018-08-21.

[1] Alex Hern (2014-12-30). "Hacker fakes German minister's fingerprints using photos of her hands". TheGuardian.com. Retrieved 2018-08-21.

[2] "Datenschutz: Schäubles Zeigefinger gehackt", Zeit Online (in German), retrieved 2018-08-20

[3] Kleinman, Zoe (2014-12-29). "Fingerprint 'cloned from photos'". BBC News. Retrieved 2018-09-01.

[4] CCC (29 December 2014). "Ich sehe, also bin ich ... Du". Retrieved 2018-08-20.

[5] "Hacker fakes German minister's fingerprints using photos of her hands". the Guardian. 2014-12-30. Retrieved 2023-01-05.

[6] Lisa Thalheim, Jan Krissler, Peter-Michael Ziegler (November 2002), Heise (ed.), "Body Check Biometric Access Protection Devices and their Programs Put to the Test", C't (in German), vol. 2002, no. 11, Hannover: Heise, p. 114{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[7] Guggi Kofod, Denis N. Mc Carthy, Jan Krissler, Günter Lang, Grace Jordan (2009-05-18), "Electroelastic optical fiber positioning with submicrometer accuracy: Model and experiment", Applied Physics Letters (in German), vol. 94, no. 20, p. 202901, Bibcode:2009ApPhL..94t2901K, doi:10.1063/1.3134002, ISSN 0003-6951{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[8] Norbert Arndt-Staufenbiel, Guenter Lang, Jan Krissler, Henning Schroeder, Wolfgang Scheel (2004-04-07), "Specific glass fiber technologies: Lensing and laser fusion", in Pistora, Jaromir; Postava, Kamil; Hrabovsky, Miroslav; Rawat, Banmali S (eds.), Microwave and Optical Technology 2003, SPIE Proceedings (in German), vol. 5445, SPIE, pp. 83–87, Bibcode:2004SPIE.5445...83A, doi:10.1117/12.558095, S2CID 109589360, retrieved 2018-08-21{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[9] Clemens Helfmeier, Dmitry Nedospasov, Christopher Tarnovsky, Jan Starbug Krissler, Christian Boit (2013-11-04), "Breaking and entering through the silicon", Proceedings of the 2013 ACM SIGSAC conference on Computer & communications security - CCS '13 (in German), ACM, pp. 733–744, doi:10.1145/2508859.2516717, ISBN 9781450324779, S2CID 1571884{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[10] Tobias Fiebig, Jan Krissler, and Ronny Hänsch (August 2014). "Security Impact of High Resolution Smartphone Cameras | USENIX". Workshop on Offensive Technologies (WOOT). USENIX Association. Retrieved 2018-08-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[11] Julian Fietkau, Starbug, and Jean-Pierre Seifert (August 2018). "Swipe Your Fingerprints! How Biometric Authentication Simplifies Payment, Access and Identity Fraud | USENIX". Workshop on Offensive Technologies (WOOT). USENIX Association. Retrieved 2018-08-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[12] TU Berlin. "Institut für Softwaretechnik und Theoretische Informatik: Jan Krissler" (in German). Retrieved 2018-08-21.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]