(Expansion) – June 6 passed and it was time to cast the vote, some with the hope of a change, others with the blindfold championing lost causes, in short, the important thing is to try to leave a digital learning that I’ve been trumpeting for years.
Something that seems as harmless and simple as a photograph uploaded to social networks can turn into various types of actions such as identity theft and related crimes. People who are ignorant or of no importance often facilitate the work of criminals in every sense, this type of omission such as raising and exposing the thumbprint after the vote is a huge error of years.
Political figures shouting in social networks from the rooftops who have voted, while accompanying their respective photo with text where the finger ridges can clearly be seen, have made life easier for criminals, with this we have a precious free biometric data.
Not only this guild makes mistakes, common users to achieve a few likes, fame, or “get on the train”, take their respective selfie with the finger marked in ink, some very closely, so close that you can see the folds and reliefs of the footprint. Although in Mexico it is used as a signature to guarantee the identity of an identifiable person and is infallible for personal government procedures, citizens believe that nothing can happen to a simple photo.
There are various types of digital attacks where technological tools facilitate all kinds of work, we can contrast it with the falsification of documents that the more advanced technology we have, the simpler and more real these types of false things look.
The same happens with fingerprint photos, because with a quality photo each part of the finger can be polished and documented in order to make a biometric match that in some larger cases can become a three-dimensional impression in order to have mostly traced to the now victim.
It is enough to reflect on how many things are linked to our identity and are usually used as verification parameters our fingerprint biometrics, the entrance to our personal life, where we store photos, messages, private conversations, our mobile, something that has become an object that it houses thousands of secrets.
Most users in Mexico with a mobile phone in hand have found that simplifying unlocking thanks to placing their thumb is so simple and practical that it makes life easier.
With the previous example we realize that if someone obtained our fingerprint and managed to replicate it, at some point they could unlock our mobile with simplicity; The same applies to smart locks and in other scenarios for identity theft by committing various crimes in the earthly world and thus managing to blame the person, thanks to the fact that they provided their identity.
The users who usually share their thumb in photos are the same ones that accompany their selfie showing their voter or INE credential, just zoom in to see the address and other identification data so that they become victims, again facilitating the work of crime.
For a few likes, users expose themselves, because perhaps they believe or trust that their circle of friends added to social networks would not do wrong, but on the internet what is uploaded loses control and if it falls into the hands of malicious people, with technical knowledge and desire to achieve an affectation, we are lost.
How many likes is your identity worth? Do you need something to happen to you to stop exposing yourself?
Let’s reflect again on what happens in each electoral period, the fame of the user can be expensive and identity and biometric data charge a very high cost.
Editor’s note: Carlos Ramírez Castañeda is a specialist and passionate about Computer Law, particularly in the areas of Cybersecurity, Cybercrime, and Cyberterrorism. He has a Master in Law of New Information and Communication Technologies from Santiago de Compostela Spain, Doctor in Administration and Public Policies of Mexico. He is a collaborator of various academic and governmental institutions, a professional always interested in cyber prevention issues, particularly with vulnerable sectors. Follow him on Twitter like. The opinions published in this column belong exclusively to the author.
