- Ghost Guns highlights the darker side of modern 3D printing technology
- Fingerprint systems can integrate timestamps, geolocations and printer identification data
- Page offers Break-Resilient Injury Methods for Forensic Data Recovery
The increase of 3D printing has offered new ways to manufacture tools, spare parts and even art. Still, its darker use has gained attention through “ghost guns.”
These are firearms produced outside regulatory systems that are difficult to trace and have already been involved in violent crime, including the killing of 2024 by the Unitedhealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Fortunately, researchers now believe that although someone is smashing such an object, investigators could still recover valuable forensic information.
Building a system of hidden fingerprints
The idea of ​​fingerprints in 3D printing is not brand new. Various approaches embed unique information in printed items, often including details such as timestamps, printer identification and geolocation data.
Until now, there is a weakness: What happens when a printed object is broken or deliberately manipulated with?
A team led by Netanel Raviv at Washington University in St. Louis has developed a system designed to withstand such attempts.
Its framework, called Secure Information Embedding and Extraction (page), uses mathematical methods that allow fragments to preserve enough coded detail for investigators to recover key information.
The side system is built on previous work presented at IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory in 2024, which focused on coding methods that are resistant enough to reconstruct data from partial remnants.
By expanding these ideas, the current study adds security mechanisms that may require 3D printers to include such fingerprints automatically.
According to the researchers, the site not only adds markings but use loss-tolerant embedding techniques. This means that even a weapon that is deliberately divided into pieces can still provide identifiable data during forensic analysis.
On the one hand, fingerprint techniques could make it harder for illegal weapons to circulate undetected.
On the other hand, this question raises the extent of monitoring, control of personal manufacture and the balance between security and privacy.
A beginner 3D printer used for harmless home projects may soon be subject to the same requirements as industrial machines whose regulators decide to mandate such systems.
While the debate is likely to focus on ghost weapons, page has potential uses far beyond arms tracking.
Any item produced with a 3D printer could in theory carry this invisible signature.
Combined with AI tools for pattern recognition and data recovery could investigate reconstructing timelines and identities from plastic or resin fragments.
“This work opens new ways of protecting the public from the harmful aspects of 3D printing through a combination of mathematical contributions and new security mechanisms,” said Netanel Raviv, Associate Professor of Computer Science and Technology in McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis.
“While the site has restrictions in defending against resourceful attackers with strong expertise in 3D printing, it raises the level of sophistication, prior knowledge and expertise required by the opponent to remain undiscovered after committing the crime.”
Via Techxplore
