- Ghost pistols highlight the darker side of modern 3D printing technology
- Digital fingerprint systems can integrate horodatages, geolocations and printer identification data
- Lateral offer of rupture integration methods for the recovery of forensic data
The rise of 3D printing offered new ways to produce tools, spare parts and even art. However, its darker use drew attention thanks to “ghost pistols”.
These are firearms produced outside the regulatory systems, which are difficult to trace and have already been involved in violent crimes, including the murder in 2024 of the CEO of Unitedhealthcare, Brian Thompson.
Fortunately, the researchers now believe that even if someone smashes such an object, the investigators could always recover precious forensic information.
Build a hidden fingerprint system
The idea of ​​fingerprints in 3D printing is not entirely new. Various approaches integrate unique information in printed elements, including often details such as horodatages, printer identification and geolocation data.
So far, weakness has remained: what happens when a printed object is broken into pieces or deliberately falsified?
A team led by Netanel Raviv at Washington University in St. Louis has developed a system designed to withstand these attempts.
Its frame, named of secure information, integration and extraction (side), uses mathematical methods that allow fragments to keep enough coded details so that investigators can recover key information.
The secondary system is built on previous work presented to the International IEEE Symposium on Information Theory in 2024, which focused on sufficiently resilient coding methods to reconstruct partial remains.
By extending these ideas, this study adds safety mechanisms that may require 3D printers to automatically include these fingerprints.
According to the researchers, Side does not only add brands but uses integration techniques tolerant to loss. This means that even a deliberately broken weapon in pieces can still provide identifiable data during forensic analysis.
On the one hand, fingerprint techniques could make it more difficult for illicit weapons to circulate unteashed.
On the other hand, this raises questions about the scope of surveillance, control of personal manufacturing and the balance between security and privacy.
A beginner 3D printer used for harmless domestic projects could soon be subject to the same requirements as industrial machines if regulators decide to mandate these systems.
Although the debate will probably focus on ghost pistols, the team has potential uses far beyond the tracing of weapons.
Any element produced with a 3D printer could, in theory, carry this invisible signature.
Combined with AI tools for model recognition and data recovery, investigators could rebuild deadlines and identities from plastic or resin fragments.
“This work opens up new ways of protecting the public from harmful aspects of 3D printing thanks to a combination of mathematical contributions and new security mechanisms,” said Netanel Raviv, assistant computer and engineering professor at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis.
“Although the team has limits to defense against ingenious attackers with strong expertise in 3D printing, this increases the level of sophistication, previous knowledge and the expertise required by the opponent to remain unteashed after having committed the crime.”
Via techxplore
