Attack on PPG Biometrics: Presentation Attack by Stealth Recording and Waveform Estimation

Area of Science:

• Biometric security
• Physiological signal processing

Background:

• Photoplethysmogram (PPG) signals are increasingly used for biometric authentication.
• Presentation attacks pose a significant threat to PPG-based systems by mimicking genuine signals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the feasibility of presentation attacks against a PPG-based authentication system.
• To develop countermeasures for PPG-based biometric security.

Main Methods:

• A PPG-based authentication system was developed.
• Experiments involved recording PPG signals from various body sites.
• Spoofing signals were generated from recorded non-genuine PPG measurements.

Main Results:

• Presentation attacks using spoofed PPG signals were demonstrated.
• The attack achieved a success probability exceeding 80% under ideal experimental conditions.

Conclusions:

• PPG-based authentication systems are vulnerable to sophisticated presentation attacks.
• Further research is needed to develop robust countermeasures against PPG signal spoofing.