Windows 8.1 to let you secure folders with fingerprint

The update to Windows 8 will natively support fingerprint recognition, letting users sign into accounts and lock down folders with a single swipe.

Read more at: Windows 8.1 to let you secure folders with your fingerprint | Microsoft - CNET News

 

[Coke Robot]

Shoot, cue the jokes of being able to secure CERTAIN FOLDERS with CERTAIN content that you may or may not want other people viewing.... via fingerprint.

 

[McRuff]

Interesting you mention that, as Microsoft is working with Fingerprint Cards (company that OBVIOUSLY does something with fingerprints) to produce high quality scanners that make sure your finger is alive and working.

I don't think it is because of that. I think it is more because using fingerprints is pretty insecure. You leave your prints all over the place and it can be easy to lift them with a bit of powder and sellotape. The main issue is to make sure that the finger is a real finger, not a copy, and to make sure it is not something stuck over a real finger with a fake fingerprint on it (just like mission impossible the TV show in the 60's). Here are some examples of fingerprint readers being fooled.

Doctors used silicone fingers to fool fingerprint scanner

Fingerprint Scanners Are Unbeatable : Discovery Channel

Sweet bypass for student finger scanner | ZDNet

 

[NiFu]

I've just ordered this - UPEK TrueMe USB Secure Fingerprint Reader -No Software: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

Hopefully it will work.

Have you read the "2 Star" customer review ?

not sure if this works on windows 7 or xp but does not work on windows 8 was waste of money for me put it drawer out of eye sight

 

[XweAponX]

No not for me. I am sure I saw this one time in a movie, in a scene involving a set of bolt cutters.

HAHAHA! I envision a scenario, not with Bolt Cutters, but with Utensils that can remove fingers. Like in the first 'Species" moovie where the chick chops off her thumb to fool Ghandi into thinking she had been blown up.

 

[Wenda]

My machine has it, but I've never bothered with it.


Wenda.

 

[Rickkins]

Is it just me, or does this not have 'disaster' written all over it...
I mean, ok fine, if you absolutely need such a thing, but what happens when it stops working, for whatever reason... or you get a boo-boo on yer finger....???

 

[4wd]

Nice feature (finally I find something good to say about the w8 UI !).

but what happens when it stops working, for whatever reason... or you get a boo-boo on yer finger

Am using the fingerprint on my HP laptops, several prints are registered, can use any of them + there is a master admin password as backup. If MS does it that way there should never be any problem.

 

[Rickkins]

+ there is a master admin password as backup. If MS does it that way there should never be any problem.

Oh, ok, that makes sense.

 

[NiFu]

I have read many, many announcements about "Windows 8.1 to let you secure folders with fingerprint" - but nowhere any description how it works.

• I have a working fingerprint reader - I can logon in Windows 8.1 Pro with fingerprint.
• I have created an encrypted folder (right mouse click to folder -> Properties -> Advanced -> Encrypt contents to secure data -> OK). And Windows Explorer shows the folder in green colour.
• But how can I use the fingerprint reader with this encrypted folder ? I always have full access to this folder. How to secure this folders with fingerprint ?

 

[Nemix]

I'm wondering if they'll implement a password method/fail safe for the feature either for those who don't have a have a finger print reader or somehow messed up their finger print (paint, super glue etc).

 

[NiFu]

... or when the finger is wounded and covered with bandage or sticking plaster.

Yes, there is a solution. Windows want's to save a certificate file on an USB stick. With this certificate file you get access to the encrypted folder.

 

[PhyllisColeman]

this is good for the safety concerns but why it is coming so late as we have now entered to a new level of computing

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
Biological security devices are a TOTAL WASTE OF TIME on computers - all that will happen is that if people get desperate (Cyber criminals etc) they will just cut someone's thumb off to get access -- or worse if it's retinal scans that are being used.

Hollywood has already amply demonstrated this process already in several recent movies -- and it's not so far from the truth.

If you want to keep something 100% secure just don't put it on a computer that's connected to a LAN or that anybody else has access to whether physically or remotely.

Simple - end of problem.

Once you SHARE information stuff WILL get leaked it's inevitable - everybody has their price - so it doesn't matter WHAT security systems are in place - and in any case a lot of data isn't needed to be remembered or re-produced word for word -- somebody with a decent memory for instance could look at a research or business proposal document - get the general drift and pass the data over for "Reverse Engineering" to a competitor.

(Also the agencies that hold that largest amount of what might be quite sensitive data - are usually state and local government depts. --I'm excluding the security services here) and these tend to have fairly average sets of people working for them usually on not very good pay so their I.T systems are generally not very robust at all - and even at high level it's not unknown for top Government ministers to leave briefcases / laptops in public Taxi's etc).

Cheers
jimbo

 

[lehnerus2000]

Biological security devices are a TOTAL WASTE OF TIME on computers - all that will happen is that if people get desperate (Cyber criminals etc) they will just cut someone's thumb off to get access -- or worse if it's retinal scans that are being used.

Hollywood has already amply demonstrated this process already in several recent movies -- and it's not so far from the truth.

Agreed.

It's obvious to any one with an IQ greater than room temperature.
Unfortunately the people pushing these ideas don't fit into that category.

For example, Loki showed how to bypass retina scans in "The Avengers" (that's only a recent example, not the first example).

The only biological security that may be worthwhile implementing is security guards.

 

[NiFu]

Biological security devices are a TOTAL WASTE OF TIME on Computers ...

Ok - I respect your opinion.

But that answers not my question: "How can I use the fingerprint reader with encrypted folder ?"


Remark: I think for private using with no high secrets fingerprint readers are good enough and easy to use.

 

[vrosa]

Nothing is 100% secure... so keep your private data in isolated media.

 

[BFG]

Trying to stay on topic. I was wondering the same. This news article came out in June. And now windows 8.1 is here and this feature does not seems to be there.

 

[waltc]

Is it just me, or does this not have 'disaster' written all over it...
I mean, ok fine, if you absolutely need such a thing, but what happens when it stops working, for whatever reason... or you get a boo-boo on yer finger....???

It's not just you, not at all... I worry over the fingerprint verification software more than anything else. Be a shame to get locked out of your own data using your own fingerprints because the particular finger print you impressed at the time isn't recognized by the fingerprint reader on the other end--a whorl smashed a little differently on the print pad--a scab or ink inadvertently changing the pattern--and suddenly you might get locked out by your own fingerprint! Fingerprints are relatively hard to read without error even by professionals--imagine a scanner trying to be programmed to do it! It would take some impressive processing power to even begin to correctly ID most finger prints--like FBI super-computing clusters, for instance. I don't think it is possible to consistently do it error-free. Then, as I mentioned, imagine having your fingerprints all over the place--the potential for fraud rises exponentially. It might even get so prolific that fingerprints at a crime scene one day are excluded from admissable evidence since they can be so easily stolen and/or duplicated digitally.

Not only that, but the prints are stored in files everywhere you'd want to use them for your log-on credentials. Everywhere. I can't see anything different for a hacker between swiping a finger print file and swiping a user name/password--either will get a hacker into your environment. Order of magnitude easier for me to simply change my username/password if necessary--much easier than changing a swiped fingerprint!

Apple recently announced it was doing something like this--and like in almost everything for the past year, Microsoft was quick to announce a knee-jerk, copy-cat technology. I think it's a bad idea for a lot of reasons--it's far more invasive to individual privacy than user names/passwords. I think its claim to strengthen Internet security is bogus. These companies are always trying to identify us by our real names, addresses, geographical locations, etc. Now, by way of a fingerprint file on all of us. I think we have a right, a fundamental right, the be anonymous on the Internet (or elsewhere) wherever and whenever it suits our purposes and preferences. I do not wish to provide my fingerprints to every Internet site asking for them, every bank, every credit-card lender I do business with, etc.--not at all...

 

[NiFu]

but what happens when it stops working, for whatever reason... or you get a boo-boo on yer finger....???

I worry over the fingerprint verification software more than anything else. Be a shame to get locked out of your own data using your own fingerprints because the particular finger print you impressed at the time isn't recognized by the fingerprint reader

Forget this argument. All fingerprint identifications have always alternative identifications; e.g. enter password.

Trying to stay on topic.

Thanks for the reminder.

I was wondering the same. This news article came out in June. And now windows 8.1 is here and this feature does not seems to be there.

I fully agree with you.