ABSTRACT: Contrary to the prevailing belief, we show that user authentication based on biometrics is vulnerable to dictionary attacks. We show the problem is particularly significant for partial prints used in smartphones and increasingly adopted for authentication tasks ranging from unlocking the devices screen up to payment authorization.  We also show that speaker verification systems are also vulnerable to dictionary attacks. We then discuss ways to mitigate such attacks.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Nasir Memon is a professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at New York University  (NYU) Tandon School of Engineering.  He is also an affiliate faculty at the Computer Science Department in the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at NYU.  He introduced cyber security studies at NYU and is a  co-founder of the Centre for Cyber Security at NYU, NY and the  Centre for Cyber Security at NYU Abu Dhabi.  He is the founder of the OSIRIS Lab, CSAW, The Bridge to Tandon Program as well as the Cyber Fellows program at NYU.  He has received several best paper awards and awards for excellence in teaching. He has been on the editorial boards of several journals and was the Editor-In-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Information Security and Forensics. He is an IEEE Fellow and an SPIE Fellow for his contributions to image compression and media security and forensics. His research interests include digital forensics, biometrics, data compression, network security and security, and human behavior.

HOST: Prof. RK Shyamasundar