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YOUR FINGER. YOUR KEY. How secure is an ekey fingerprint access solution? Answers to the most frequently asked questions

About ekey ekey started in 2002 and is now Europe‘s No. 1 for fingerprint scanner access solutions. Keys, cards and codes can be lost, forgotten or stolen, whereas your finger is always on hand! ekey has been developing access solutions for private households, companies and organizations for 20 years. What began as a research project is now one of the leading manufacturers of biometric access control: the Austrian family-owned company is now the European market leader for fingerprint scanner access solutions. Quality “Made in Austria” Before an ekey product can be launched on the market, it...

Contents Are fingerprints stored? Can an original fingerprint be reconstructed from the stored data? Is it possible to make a usable fake finger from a fingerprint left behind (e. g. on a glass) to open a door? 6 What is the probability that the door will open for an unauthorized person? How do you open the door in the event of a power failure? Can a door open by itself in the event of a power failure? Can the ekey fingerprint scanner access solution be manipulated from the outside so that the door opens? 10 Can the system be manipulated by swapping the fingerprint scanner? Is the system...

Are fingerprints stored? No. ekey does not store fingerprints. The biometric features of the original fingerprint, such as the unique dots, line endings and bifurcations, are used to create a pattern - the so-called template. This is converted into a unique binary number code by the specially developed and patented software algorithm, stored and used for comparison each time. The templates are stored encrypted in the ekey bionyx cloud. The key is located exclusively on the user‘s own end device (smartphone/tablet), so the data is protected from unauthorized access. The security can be...

Can an original fingerprint be reconstructed from the stored data? No, the stored template (see “Are fingerprints stored?”) can no longer be converted back into a fingerprint. Thus, a reconstruction of the original fingerprint is impossible.

Is it possible to make a usable fake finger from a fingerprint left behind (e. g. on a glass) to open a door? ekey relies on multiple safeguards against manipulation by fake fingers: whether the biometric features originate from the finger of a real person is checked on the one hand with the conductivity of the living skin when the finger is placed on the sensor, and on the other hand during the algorithmic evaluation of the data. In addition, it is almost impossible to produce a usable fake fingerprint. With a lot of criminal energy, even more expert knowledge and the best laboratory...

What is the probability that the door will open for an unauthorized person? There is a special indicator for this – the false acceptance rate (FAR). This describes the probability of a person gaining access to a security system even though they have no authorization. In the case of ekey fingerprint scanners, this is 1 in 10 million - assuming that the fingerprints were stored correctly. In summary: with ekey fingerprint scanners, it is theoretically possible for an unauthorized person to gain access, but this is highly unikely. Compared to the four-digit numeric code of an ATM card, an ekey...

How do you open the door in the event of a power failure? If the power, the Internet or the router fail, no one is left standing in front of a locked door. ekey offers an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) for its access systems. It keeps the fingerprint scanner, the control panel and the motorized lock in operation for several hours. Alternatively, a key can of course be used at any time. And even if the connection to the Internet or the router fails, the door can still be opened.

Can a door open by itself in the event of a power failure? No. Power failures cannot trigger an impulse that opens the door in an ekey fingerprint scanner access solution. Only an authorized user can trigger this opening command.

Can the ekey fingerprint scanner access solution be manipulated from the outside so that the door opens? No. The system cannot be manipulated from the outside. Not even through the use of force, because the fingerprint scanner and the control panel are spatially separated. The opening impulse comes from the control panel, which is located in the protected interior area. The data is also encrypted and secured multiple times at all times. Data transmission in the ekey bionyx system is end-to-end encrypted. All data is transmitted encrypted across all transmission stations.

Can the system be manipulated by swapping the fingerprint scanner? No, the system cannot be manipulated by swapping the fingerprint scanner. This is because the fingerprint scanner and the control panel are „coupled“ during activation and communicate in encrypted form. The user data created is stored with the serial number of the device. If the fingerprint scanner is swapped or the system is expanded, this must be verified by an administrator in the ekey bionyx app. In this way, the stored fingers are retained and do not have to be stored again. Without this process, stored data cannot be...

Is the system connected to the Internet? No. The devices communicate over the Internet exclusively with the ekey bionyx cloud, which is operated via the cloud computing world market leader MS Azure. The data is encrypted at all times and cannot be viewed by either ekey or Microsoft. Due to the high security standard, only encrypted WLAN networks can be used.

How secure is the connection between smartphone/tablet, fingerprint scanner and control panel? The secure “Transport Layer Security” protocol is used for the initial connection between the smartphone/ tablet, the fingerprint scanner and the control panel. Data is transmitted between the devices exclusively in encrypted form. Data transmission in the ekey bionyx app follows end-to-end encryption. All data is transmitted in encrypted form across all transmission stations. The data sent cannot be read or generated either by attackers or by ekey itself.