I was reading New Scientist (last weeks issue, 12/12/09), and I stumbled across a small but interesting story on page 7:
A Chinese woman used plastic surgery to fool a biometric fingerprint scanner. The appropriately named Lin Rong was arrested in Japan for being an illegal immigrant. Police report that she had swapped skin patches from her thumb and index finger to the opposite hand!
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/198634-Fake-fingerprint-Chinese-woman-fools-Japan-controls has a little more detail.
This made me think, as it does. The two most common things I do, as a locksmith, is fake a key (by picking the lock, decoding it, impressioning, etc.) and revoke a key (changing a lock, re-levering a pack, re-pinning a cylinder, etc.)
This woman revoked her biometric keys, in order to present a new set to the border controls, where they take a copy of the fingerprints of every foreigner that enters their country. This is done because you cannot revoke such biometric keys easily. And this is, as I have said before, the biggest issue with biometric security.
If she had simply used latex paint to do this, she would have been fine, and not required such surgery. But what if she had done that and used your fingerprint? There is no way you can then change your “keys” to a new set, meaning that when you go to Japan, you’d find access denied. This would baffle everyone, especially if, like me, you are a man! However, it would still require someone there with the ability to override the system, which there may not be. And, the first person to present your keys would have already long since left.
I’m pretty sure you would miss your connecting flight…