Apple unveiled its latest installment of the iPhone 5S on Tuesday where the company revolutionized the smartphone's design by including a biometric fingerprint scanner into the device's Home button. The Touch ID scanner is meant to make the iPhone 5S the most secure smartphone on the market, but many are wondering just how much safety can come from a phone that stores their biometric information?
Apple clearly wants to nip all concerns in the bud and is therefore being as forthcoming as possible with details about the Touch ID. According to an Apple spokesperson, the fingerprint scanner won't store actual images of users' fingerprints on the device. Instead, the devices only stores "Fingerprint data." Which remains encrypted within the iPhone's processor. From there, the phone would then use the digital signature to unlock itself or make purchases on the App store, iTunes or iBooks, according to invormation given to the Wall Street Journal.
What this means to the overly security conscious is that even if someone was able to steal your iPhone, they would then need to compromise and hack the device's encrypted processing chip, from there it is very unlikely they'd be able to reverse engineer someone's fingerprint.
That isn't the only step Apple took to ensure its users personal security. The iPhone 5S will require users to create a passcode as a backup security option. Only the passcode can unlock the phone if it is rebooted or if it hasn't been unlocked for 48 hours. This is to ensure no would-be hacker is able to stall for time while he or she tries to figure out a way to get around the Touch ID fingerprint scanner.
Fingerprint scanning technology isn't exactly something new for the tech industry. However, Apple's Touch ID marks the technology's entrance into the mainstream. Apple's version is an improvement on some of the other fingerprint scanners which can have trouble regularly working to unlock the device. Storing biometric data on one's smartphone is an exotic concept for most customers and Apple wants to ensure that not only will its fingerprint scanner provide security for the phone, it will provide security for the owner's fingerprint information as well.
