Tag: iphone 5s

Apple gathers more momentum in the wake of recent event

Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi recently spoke at the WWDC keynote event, where he brought a great deal of attention to Touch ID, the company’s fingerprint scanner that was introduced last year. Touch ID is part of the iPhone 5S and is meant to add an extra layer of biometric security to the mobile device. This biometric system has created a significant deal of hype around Apple’s potential foray into the mobile payments field, and this hype has only increased in the wake of the WWDC event.

Touch ID could help make mobile shopping more secure

During the event, Federighi noted that developers would soon be able to take advantage of the Touch ID API, allowing them to integrate the features of Touch ID into their applications. This could soon lead to the emergence of a new generation of mobile payments services that are much more secure than their predecessors. Security has been a major challenge for the mobile payments field, with many services falling prey to malicious groups that seek to access the financial information of consumers and businesses. Biometric technology could help alleviate the security problem by make services more resilient against the threats they are exposed to in the mobile space.

Apple continues to move away from NFC

Apple has been somewhat outspoken with its security concerns when it comes to the matter of mobile payments. The company had initially shown interest in the use of NFC technology, but NFC has since become unattractive from Apple’s perspective. Instead, the company is focusing more heavily on Bluetooth and cloud technology, with biometrics service as a security barrier that is meant to offer consumers better protection.

Company has yet to make a definitive entry into the mobile payments field

While Apple has been growing more aggressive in the mobile payments field, the company has yet to make a decisive entry into the marketplace. Though iOS devices can be used for mobile shopping and payments, Apple has not yet introduced a service that is specifically designed for payments and is not likely to do so for some time.

Hackers are saying that the technology is “broken” and that it is possible to bypass.

Although Apple is saying that its Touch ID fingerprint recognition system is providing consumers with the iPhone 5S with a “very high level” of mobile security, hackers are claiming that they have been able to break into that system as of a day after the initial launch of the device.

These claims have been made by the Chaos Computer Club in Germany, among other hackers.

The Chaos Computer Club released a statement that claimed that it “successfully bypassed the biometric security of Apple’s Touch ID using easy everyday means.” This could have serious mobile security implications for the device manufacture which has been heavily hyping this particular feature for the safety that it provides its users.

The hackers have claimed that it was easy enough to bypass the fingerprint based mobile security barrier.

They accomplished this by taking a photograph of a fingerprint that was left behind by a user on a glass surface. They were then able to create an artificial “finger” that featured the user’s fingerprint so that they would be able to unlock the phone’s mobile security device. Even after these claims, Apple continues to maintain that the Touch ID system is a secure one.

On Apple’s own official website, it has explained that there is a one in 50,000 chance that two individual fingerprints will be adequately similar for the technology to think that they are the same. It feels that this mobile security level remains very high.

According to the SRLabs chief scientist, Karsten Nohl “It would have been incredible if Apple had managed to do something the rest of the biometrics industry has failed to achieve after decades of trying, so I’m not surprised it was hacked after just one day.” The head scientist at the think tank also stated, while speaking to the BBC, that “Claiming this system offers a high level of security is just ridiculous.”

At the same time, Apple has not been claiming that the Touch ID is a complete replacement for the more traditional mobile security technique that uses a password. Instead, it is designed to allow users to unlock their devices more conveniently.