Frank Rieger

Frank Rieger (born December 6, 1971, in Perleberg, Germany) is a German hacker, entrepreneur, and technology publicist who spent roughly two decades as one of the public spokespeople for the Chaos Computer Club (CCC), Europe's largest hacker association, before stepping down from that role in 2025.

CCC Spokesperson and Privacy Activism

As a CCC spokesperson, Rieger became a recurring voice in German media on surveillance, government data-collection programs, and digital civil liberties. He co-hosted the annual 'Fnord' year-in-review talk at the Chaos Communication Congress from 2003 to 2016 alongside fellow hacker Felix von Leitner, and the two also co-host the podcast 'Alternativlos,' which won a Deutschlandradio award for Political Podcast of the Year in 2011. In 2012, Rieger and CCC colleague Constanze Kurz jointly received the Werner-Holtfort Prize for their civil and human rights advocacy work, and the two also co-authored books together on topics including data privacy, automation, and cyberwar. In 2014 Rieger testified as an expert witness before the German Bundestag's parliamentary committee investigating NSA surveillance activities, and in 2016 he was involved in initiating the Charter of Digital Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

Biometric Security: The Touch ID Bypass

Rieger is closely associated with the CCC's biometric security research, most notably announcing, in his role as spokesperson, the club's September 2013 demonstration that Apple's newly released Touch ID fingerprint sensor on the iPhone 5S could be defeated. The CCC's biometrics team, working under the handle 'Starbug,' photographed a fingerprint left on a glass surface, processed the image, and used it to fabricate a fake finger that unlocked the device — a demonstration widely reported as showing that fingerprint sensors, however high-resolution, remained vulnerable to the same lifting-and-casting techniques used against earlier biometric systems.

GSMK and the CryptoPhone

Since 2004, Rieger has been a co-founder and managing director of GSMK mbH, a Berlin-based company that develops the CryptoPhone, a secure mobile communication device marketed to governments, journalists, and organizations concerned about interception of mobile communications. His long involvement with GSMK situates him within the broader field of mobile-network and communications security, where he has been an outspoken commentator on surveillance risks in mobile networks, though independent documentation of specific original GSM-protocol research authored by Rieger personally (as distinct from his advocacy and commentary role) could not be verified and should be treated as unconfirmed — that kind of protocol-level research is more commonly attributed to researchers such as Karsten Nohl and Harald Welte.

Other Notable Commentary

In 2010, Rieger was among the first public commentators to speculate that the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran was the intended target of the Stuxnet worm, an assessment later cited in broader reporting on the malware's origins and objectives.

Timeline

• 1971-12-06Born in Perleberg, Germany.
• 2003Begins co-hosting the annual 'Fnord' year-in-review talk at the Chaos Communication Congress with Felix von Leitner (continues through 2016).
• 2004Co-founds and becomes managing director of GSMK mbH, maker of the CryptoPhone secure communication device.
• 2009Delivers a keynote at the 26th Chaos Communication Congress (26C3).
• 2010Publicly speculates that Iran's Natanz nuclear facility was the target of the Stuxnet worm.
• 2011The 'Alternativlos' podcast, co-hosted with Felix von Leitner, wins Deutschlandradio's Political Podcast of the Year award.
• 2012Receives the Werner-Holtfort Prize jointly with Constanze Kurz for civil and human rights advocacy.
• 2013-09-22As CCC spokesperson, announces the club's demonstration defeating Apple's Touch ID fingerprint sensor with a fabricated fake fingerprint.
• 2014Testifies as an expert witness before the German Bundestag's NSA investigation committee.
• 2016Co-initiates the Charter of Digital Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
• 2025Steps down as a spokesperson for the Chaos Computer Club.