Overview: Fingerprint Scans

Quick Definition

Fingerprint Scans are a type of biometric authentication that identifies users based on the pattern of ridges present on the tips of their finger(s) or thumb(s). Fingerprint scans are imagined to be a strong form of authentication but have been demonstrated to be easy to copy or impersonate in practice, making them a paradoxically weak identity factor.

Fingerprint scans suffer from the same privacy concerns as do all forms of traditional biometric identification—if biometric data is stolen or released into the wild, users may be negatively affected for the rest of their lives, since fingerprints can not be changed.