Bitcoin Forum

How would the Bitcoin community like retina scan or thumb print authorization? (Most new cell phones already have these features built-in) I believe that all the maintainers of Bitcoin wallets should consider adding these features. If you think this is a good idea, add your support below and also add the reason why you would like these features added.

BTC

Are we talking about online wallets or are we talking about the Qt wallets?

Certainly.  Please give me your thumbprints and retinal scans right now.  I will ensure that they will be sold to corporation-states at a high premium as a service to you.

Just kidding

If you want jail, my friend, you are already in one.  It is called your mind.  Free yourself from it.  Take a little journey.  Preferably a long one.

Happy new year.

It is not necessary to store the actual biometric data, just some hash of it should be sufficient.

bitID is a good concept..

as for retina/fingerprint.. goodluck when you get cataracts or ur thumb gets mangled in a machine at work.

the solution is to only have junk change in webwallets/convenience wallets. and have your hard earned larger sums in cold store.

suggest you read on from here: http://log.bitcoin-assets.com/?date=19-10-2014#883665

Unless you want your retina or print uploaded to some NSA database somewhere, I would avoid using these features.

I would prefer some people vouch for ID and it would be good for a short time using a temporary PIN. Like a group googauth.

I personally don't use the fingerprint authentication on my iphone even though the feature is available which I think is cool. However, I'm a bit concerned here on privacy and for whatever reason I'll still stick to my hard coded password stored in my brain. I would trade off convenience in exchange for privacy.

How do you revoke a biometric key?

Fingerprint scanners have thus far proven worryingly simple to bypass - even a photocopy has been sufficient to fool a lot of them. As for DNA, assuming that's not a troll - doesn't that mean anyone with a sample of my spit can spend my bitcoins?

I don't think biometrics is a good solution here. I'd rather it wasn't obvious how to spend my coins.

I havent heard of a lot of model of phones having thumbprint scanning feature and never heard of retina scans in any phone except face recognition which isnt secure. It wont be of much use if large percentage of phones don't have these features, just a waste of time developing them. It isnt of much use if your phone get stolen, install lookout and wipe your phone if it ever gets stolen or just transfer them to another address and have a pin code on your phone.

prepare your anus

You have a phone with a retinal scanner? What phone is it? I've heard Samsung was hinting at the idea but thought that was still years away.

What does qt stand for? I think some sort of finger print scan to authorize transactions would be beneficial for those that want to use them. I know I would.

Coinbase on iOS already uses the thumbprint scan

By 2016 we will see this technology on a normal smartphone!

QT stands for this http://qt-project.org/.

It is the wallet that downloads the whole blockchain, known as Bitcoin Core now. It however wont fully protect the wallet from malware in phones. It might be possible to prevent physical theft but might not be enough to prevent malwares from getting the eivate key.

Ban ... infinity !

Using thumb print authorization or retina scan authorization is the same as making passwords unchangeable.

Think about it. You would carry your password with you in plain text and you would only be able to change it as often as the amount of fingers you have (or eyes).

This is a step backwards in security. Actual passwords are not visible in plain text and can be changed and re-invented as often as you want.

I certainly wouldn't like some third party company having access to my thumbprints or retina scans, but I wouldn't mind using fingerprints to access my own PC wallet. Think that would give me an extra piece of mind.

I think that blockchain.info may use apple's touch ID for it's APP.

That would be great honestly since I own an iphone (and a samsung). Any is good :)

I haven't seen people using retina scan a lot. I think a thumb print authorization would be preferred.

Thumb print is better than retina. I don't even like to scan my finger... I won't imagine scanning my retina.

no, never

Fingerprint scanners to secure a phone have to be one of the dumbest ideas yet. Why because the fingerprints of the user are already on the outside of the phone! Apple's IOS fingerprint "security" has already been hacked repeatedly. http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/iphone-6-touch-id-fingerprint-scanner-hacked-days-after-launch-1466843 (http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/iphone-6-touch-id-fingerprint-scanner-hacked-days-after-launch-1466843).

These kind of biometrics can work where the actual scanning is supervised, for example when crossing a border, entering a secure area etc. When the scanning is not supervised they are next to useless.

As for Apple, I would stay well away from that company when dealing with XBT or other crypto currencies. I still remember purchasing XBT in 2012 and late 2011 between 2 and 6 USD per XBT. The loyal isheep had to wait for approval from their masters at Apple in 2014 and pay between 275 and 600 USD per XBT. When the loyal isheep have to pay 100x for an asset, any asset, over the price those of us, who recognize the evil of the DRM infected Apple ecosystem pay, it is hardly surprising why Apple keeps accumulating USD while the isheep get deeper and deeper into debt.

I regard biometrics as the equivalent of using a long complicated password, that's only advantage is it can't easily be shoulder surfed or forgotten. When the machine has read it, it's just some string of data, strings of data can be sniffed and injected on compromised machines, compromised networks, compromised ID servers etc. Then when it has been compromised, you can't change it.

Also if fingerprints are only likely to be unique to one in 64 million individuals, that means it's only about 25 bit security, if only about 64 million variations are likely and can be algorithmically defined. I think that takes a middling GPU less than an hour.

I've read about this further and I've found out that chain.com has a fingerprint based bitcoin wallet but I have not found out if someone has made a successful hack against this type of security and the way this company implements it.

You can always lose your password, most people don't lose their thumb or eyes.

Actually some people do lose their thumb or eyes. One can just write the password on the outside of the phone in order to not lose it. This is the essence of the CCC hack over a year ago. http://www.ccc.de/en/updates/2013/ccc-breaks-apple-touchid (http://www.ccc.de/en/updates/2013/ccc-breaks-apple-touchid). Yes Apple is that reckless when it comes to the security of their customer's information.

Um... Ok. Then show me statistics of how many people in the world lose both their eyes and thumbs, I'm assuming not much? If it's not much, I think you're proving a good point for this type of security. Someone had to recreate someone's thumb! That's a hell of a lot harder to do than stealing someone's credit card or being apart of other illegal schemes.

Amputations account for 1% of workplace injuries in BC, Canada http://worksafebc.com/publications/reports/statistics_reports/assets/pdf/stats2012.pdf (http://worksafebc.com/publications/reports/statistics_reports/assets/pdf/stats2012.pdf) p 118. So it is very significant. The point is that the fingerprints are lifted from the outside of the phone. So if the attacker has possession of the phone she can overcome the Apple security theatre. The amount at stake here can be many orders of magnitude more that a stolen credit card where there is consumer has limited liability typically under 50 USD.

Seriously this kind of security theatre is very dangerous because it give people a false sense of security.

Those who wish to become isheep and play in Apple's gilded jail are of course free to do so. I will stick to proven Free Libre Open Source Software security technology that actually works, rather than corporate security theatre.

Relevant to this thread:

http://venturebeat.com/2014/12/28/chaos-computer-club-claims-it-can-reproduce-fingerprints-from-peoples-public-photos/

I hope most of you have eyes and thumbs  ;D

Bitcoin is not anonymous, the FBI knows who you are when you send and receive a bitcoin. I believe that the main benefit of this technology is multilayer-ed security.

http://blog.dustinkirkland.com/2013/10/fingerprints-are-user-names-not.html (passwords)

You are right, this does not happen very often, but it does happen. Most of the effort spent in protecting private keys is protecting against the very unlikely. Additionally, generally speaking most of these kinds of services are not going to capture all of your biometric data; they will likely only capture a very limited amount (for example only x of your digits/fingers).

Apple for example has a limit of recording 5 of your fingerprints

IMHO biometrics should only replace usernames, but newer passwords. As pointed out earlier your biometrics exists in many places already. And Apples fingerprint reader was hacked shortly after it's release.
Most Bitcoin users today are security enthusiasts and would never wish for something like this.