3D-Printed Ghost Guns Won’t Stay Anonymous: How Digital Fingerprints Could Track Every Part
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a method to embed digital “fingerprints” into 3D-printed parts, allowing identification even from fragments. The SIDE system encodes data such as printer ID and timestamps directly into the object’s structure. The approach targets untraceable “ghost guns” and was presented at the USENIX Security Symposium in August 2025. The project is funded by the NSF and Army Research Office.