Hey! I am new on this forum so, sorry if I am at the wrong section.
I am working on a project to secure my hard drives with my fingerprint. I've see a few modules that read your fingerprints and work like a charm. I just need a little help on how to use fingerprint over my hard drive.
So what I want to do is, attach any laptop hard drive with my Arduino, and then use Arduino's USB connection with my PC. Upon connecting with PC, the Arduino should ask for fingerprint (and should not allow hard drive to be displayed in PC). Upon scanning the fingerprint, if it matches the existing fingerprint(s), the Arduino should route the hard drive connection to the PC.
In other words, the hard drive should be re routed from my Arduino logic, and should only be read by PC if my Arduino allows.
Is that possible? If yes, can someone give me a head start with this? I will really appreciate it.
Upon receiving power (i.e. hard disk is connected to the USB of the computer) the access is granted the moment the finger print is successfully recognised. No need for the computer to ask for this.
Connecting the Arduino to the computer's USB also makes reprogramming quite trivial... and that reprogramming is something you have to prevent or your whole fingerprint security is moot.
You also have to prevent the hard disk from being connected directly to the PC - e.g. by stripping the USB wires between the hard disk and the finger print module, thus bypassing your security module altogether.
This is hard to do, very hard. Modern, strong encryption with a good password is probably much more secure, cheaper and quicker to implement, and less hassle as there's no extra parts to lug around. You're going to have hard time getting your finger print security to a level that's any greater than "just make sure that disk remains in my pocket and out of the hands of people I don't want to give access to".
wvmarle:
Upon receiving power (i.e. hard disk is connected to the USB of the computer) the access is granted the moment the finger print is successfully recognised. No need for the computer to ask for this....
Hey wvmarle I appreciate your response. I think you did not quite understand my problem. I am not doing this as a showcase project, it is more like a playground for me. I just want to know what I can do with this fingerprint sensor.
I do know people can just rip off the hard drive from my Arduino and connect it directly with their PC. I do have a solution for that (that's for future). Right now, I just want to re route Hard Drive connection through my Arduino and simply intercept this connection and wait till I find the right fingerprint.
My question is;
How do I block Hard Drive connection from PC through my Arduino, and then allow it when I find the right fingerprint?
And as far as future security goes, I am going to implement my own encryption method on the entire data of hard drive, so even if you rip it off of my Arduino logic, it will just show you loads of binary files on your PC - not the actual data. And yes, these things can be handled with software alone as well, but I just want to try it with fingerprint.
Quick and easy: MOSFET in the hard disk power line. Switch on the power when the finger print is correct. Not sure though how USB behaves with unpowered peripherals - parasitic powering is a real option.
There may also be USB switches out there that can be controlled electronically.
wvmarle:
Quick and easy: MOSFET in the hard disk power line. Switch on the power when the finger print is correct. Not sure though how USB behaves with unpowered peripherals - parasitic powering is a real option.
There may also be USB switches out there that can be controlled electronically.
Hmm, that sounds interesting, thanks for the advice. I will look further into it and will let you know if I come across a hurdle.