JRC Identifies Sensors by Noise

European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC): Recent advances on image processing allow identification of which device has taken a given picture, and allow a match with those contained in social network accounts (Facebook, Flickr, etc.). This possibility has been demonstrated in a recent JRC study that received the Best Paper Award at the International Conference on Computer Vision Theory and Applications (VISAPP 2014) in Lisbon, Portugal this January:

"On the usage of Sensor Pattern Noise for Picture-to-Identity linking through social network accounts"
Riccardo Satta and Pasquale Stirparo

JRC exploited the noise pattern that is left in a digital picture by any image sensor, as a fingerprint of the imaging device (whether it is a digital camera, a smartphone, a tablet, …). Such a Sensor Pattern Noise (SPN) has been shown to be unique for every single device. This allows one to find, given a picture, a social network account containing images taken by the same camera, and in turn it can be possible to infer the identity of the camera owner.