The Apple iPhone 5S features a Biometric Fingerprint
Technology called Touch ID as described in “iPhone
5S comes with Touch ID fingerprint scanner”,
published September 10, 2013 11:04 AM PDT by Seth Rosenblatt, CNET News
and “Apple
wants your fingers! iPhone 5S to include ‘Touch ID’ for fingerprint reading”,
published September 10, 2013 By Joshua Sherman, DigitalTrends.
The Touch ID was developed by Authentec, a Biometric component designer
that Apple acquired back in July 2012 as
stated in “Apple
buys mobile security firm AuthenTec for $356 million”,
published By
Poornima Gupta and Sinead Carew, Reuters.
Along with the fact that the Apple iPhone 4S has a
64-bit Processor, this smartphone is literally technologically more advanced
than Samsung’s Galaxy of smartphones. But does all this mean that the password
is dead on smartphones? Short answer: Yes!
Touch
ID in a nutshell – Sapphire studded Cowboy
Their contribution to the Apple iPhone 5S is nothing
short of stellar as described in the article “How
Apple's Touch ID Fingerprint Sensor Works To Protect Your Identity”,
published 11 September 2013, by Adriana Lee, Readwrite:
1.
Capacitive fingerprint sensor
that's 170 microns thin
2.
It’s made of Sapphire Glass
3.
500 ppi (Pixels per Inch)
resolution
4.
Scans 360 degrees, irregardless
of the orientation of the finger
5.
Keeps copies of the finger
scanned in the phone, not in iCloud or on any of Apple’s Servers
Apparently the fingerprint scanner can tell if
you’re dead or alive as stated in “Apple’s
iPhone 5S could have a fingerprint scanner – and we want that why?”,
published July 30, 2013 By Andrew Couts, DigitalTrends. Persons
with sweaty finger may have a problem as stated in the article “iPhone
5S fingerprint sensor is ill-disposed to sweat”, published September 11,
2013 4:52 PM PDT by Dara Kerr, CNET News
which they simply solve by either wiping the finger clean or using another
finger, as it doesn’t have to be the thumb.
Touch ID replaces the lock screen password and far more secure, as it’s
your fingerprint, which is hard to duplicate, even if you cut off the person’s
hand. Aside from making the Apple iPhone impossible to use unless unlock by the
user, touch ID serves as authentication for purchasing items online.
This should come as good news for parents who loan their toddlers their
smartphones to play games but don’t want them using the credit card to purchase
app or make in-app purchases by mistake. The death of the password means that
cumbersome codes to remember and forgetting your phone passcode means no trips
to the phone unlocker dude when you forget as described in my
blog
article entitled “How
to unlock any phone and put it on any Network - Guaranteed to unlock any
Feature or Smartphone on the Chennai Express”.
Passwords
are so 18th Century – From Fingerprints to Passthoughts
Passwords go back a long time indeed. They are the
catch phrases used in Medieval times to grant access to a fortification or
Castle at night for spies on the Night Watch, as being covert is part of their
game. To gain entry to the castle, knowing the secret password to tell the
guard would mean the difference in battle, as while inside your enemy can gain
insight into your battle strategy.
Today the password concept is seen in almost every
service we use online both Free and Paid access. This makes life a trifle
difficult, as it’s best to have:
1. Long
multi-character alphanumeric passwords
2. Long
multi-case alphanumeric passwords
3. Passwords
unique for every service to guarantee security
Thus using your birthdate, you mother maiden name,
the word “password”, a string of counting numbers e.g. “12345678” or any name
or number familiar to is a no-no, as hackers can, based on their knowledge of
you which they can easily Google in this age of Social Networking, easily
Socially Engineer your password. A good example of a strong password is:
Cabbage2357Fortress. This password example fulfills all the characteristics of
the above.
Replacing
the Password – Phishing Trips make them Obsolete
However, the fact remains that most people don’t use
anyway according to a study done in February 2013 antivirus maker MacAfee as
reported in “Three
of 10 smartphone owners don't use passwords”, published February 26, 2013
by Doug Gross, CNN.
To this end, Google had begun working on methods to
replace passwords as according to
Google's Manager of Information security, Heather Adkins at the TechCrunch
Disrupt panel called "Spies Like Us," says, quote "passwords are
dead" as reported in the article “Google
security exec: 'Passwords are dead'”,
published September 10, 2013 12:57 PM PDT by Daniel Terdiman, CNET News.
This is necessary as a new scourge of Spear Phishing
using Keyloggers is creating havoc on all this above wisdom as stated in my blog
article entitled “Professor
Marco Gercke warns of Scammers using Keyloggers for Spear Phishing - How to use
Keyloggers and how to Protect yourself from Scammer's American Hustle for Fast
Cash”.
Whether manually installed or a more sophisticated
deliver method is used such as clicking on an infected link or reading an
infected email, hackers can use phishing methods to record your keystrokes
using keyloggers to gain access to your account, no matter how complex your
password. The only safeguard is to use a computer with a Linux OS or an Apple
Computer as these are not susceptible to phishing attacks which primarily go
after Windows machines!
In the case of smartphones, the use of passwords
makes them the target of thieves, who know all too well that stealing a phone
guarantees them a quick resale, as they can easily unlock the phone once they
break the password, which in many cases isn’t so hard, as many persons don’t
use a password on their smartphone to begin with.
Smartphones
are the focus – The power of Fingerprints
This is indeed true. Smartphones and Tablets are the
new frontier, as a device that has no warranty, costs thousands of dollars and
in most cases only has a swipe and unlock feature is ripe for thievery. Worse
now that the Apple iPhone 5S is confirmed on Tuesday September 10th
2013 Launch to be coming in Gold Colours as noted in my blog
article entitled “Apple
has launched the Apple iPhone 5S and 5C on Tuesday September 10th 2013 - Apple
iPhone Strategy is to Go Global to beat Samsung”.
So Apple’s Touch ID is really Apple being both proactive
and innovative. Others have tried their hand at biometric security for
smartphones and have failed. The Motorola Atrix in 2011 was actually the first
smartphone to utilize a fingerprint scanner, but theirs was error prone even as
they mocked Apple as stated in the article “Motorola
Bashes Apple's iPhone Fingerprint Reader, Forgets It Sold One First”,
published 9/11/2013 @ 8:07PM by Andy Greenberg, Forbes
The Samsung Galaxy SIII, which launched with much
fanfare in 2012, promised improved security via using facial recognition as
stated in “Samsung
launches Galaxy S III with voice and face recognition”, published May 3,
2012 03:57 PM ET By Matt Hamblen, Computerworld.
Amusingly, persons began reporting using photographs to gain access to their
phones, suggesting a method to hack the Samsung Galaxy SIII as stated in “Samsung
Galaxy S3 Face Unlock Tricked by Photograph”, published June 18, 2012 3:37
PM GMT by Alistair Charlton, ibTimes among
other curious security flaws!
Clearly here, Apple’s reputation is on the line. The
next few days are a wait-and-see period to discover if some enterprising hacker
has hacked the Apple iPhone 5S!
The
Future of Passwords – Cost reduction helps Retina Scanners see Red
If you’ve watched the movie Minority Report, you’d realized that in that movie, everything is
accessible via your Retina Scan or fingerprint, even opening the door or
serving you up advertisement or charging you for a ride on the subway. The fact
that biometric security is not so widespread has partially to do with cost.
These Scanners are expensive and difficult to install.
The databases are not easy to maintain either and the algorithms involved in
processing the data to make sure it unique to each person’s complex set of
prints. Authentec seems to have solved all this using a higher resolution
scanner to avoid mistakes and discriminate between live persons and dead ones.
The system is only affected by persons with sweaty fingers or if the finger in
question is on a hand that’s dead.
This may have something to do with the fact that the
Fingerprint scanner, located beneath the Home Button, uses Sapphire as is main
material. This as Sapphire is red in colour and is a crystalline form of
Aluminium Oxide (Al2O3) which can be made from Bauxite as
described in my blog
article entitled “Sapphire
Screens for smartphones by Q1 2014 - Unscratchable Sign of Virgo is the Man of
Steel to revive Jamaican Alumina Industry”.
Thus the Sapphire ring may be acting as a kind of
Red Filter, thus making it easier to detect a living hand may explain why Apple
made the Fingerprint Sensor Ring out of Sapphire. It also explains why it
doesn’t work with sweat, as sweat easily changes the refractive index of the
scanner, suggesting the system uses visible light similar to a Bar code
Scanner.
Even more impressive is that the algorithm uses the
64-bit A7 Processor built into the Apple iPhone 7, suggesting either the code
is written to take advantage of the full power of the 64-bit Processor or it’s’
better, much more tightly written code.
One thing is for sure though: Apple’s 64-bit A7 Processor
sets up Apple to introduce 64-bit Applications that run much faster as it has a
longer word length, enableing a 2x speed boost in processing Power for an
equivalent speed but requires more memory, possibly in the4GB region as opined
in “Why
Apple went 64-bit with the iPhone 5s”, published September 13, 2013 --
14:30 GMT (07:30 PDT By Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, ZDNet.
This is particularly good for Gaming and other Processor
intensive Applications. It also sets up the Apple iPhone for future
applications that require more Processor power. And naturally in all of this,
Samsung, betraying a bit of Jealousy, has stated that it too may have 64-bit Processors
in the works for it’s Samsung Galaxy SV smartphones despite Google android 4.4
aka KitKat not being 64-bit compatible as stated in “Samsung
wants you to know that it’s gonna have 64-bit Android phones, too”,
published September 12, 2013 By Andy Boxall, DigitalTrends.
Samsung
has their work cut out – Apple’s back, Back again
Definitely dear reader, Apple’s back, back again, to
quote the Eminem song Without
Me. This is top notch security
on a smartphone that makes this more of a reason to have, as it now means
no-one can steal your smartphone.
Now if Apple were to make their next smartphone with
a Sapphire screen, Sapphire Screen, 128GB Internal Memory Version, support for
Wi-Fi Direct, self-recharging Lithium-ion Polymer Battery with a Battery life
measured in months and weeks and not days and a 12.1 Megapixel Camera as I had
predicted in my blog
article entitled “Sharp
develops world's thinnest 12.1 Megapixel Camera - Apple iPhone 5 and Apple iPad
3 in Sharp's focus”.
There would be no need to increase the screen size,
the favorite moot point of Apple bashers and Google Android Lovers. Such a
phone toting a 64-Bit A7 Processor would possess the power to become a Remote
Control for anything in the House. Even an Apple Television and a Video Game
Console fashioned from the Apple iTV as stated in my blog
article entitled “Apple
to launch TV and a Cloud Gaming Console in 2014 - How the Apple iTV and
Television Set can kill The Grandmaster in the guise of Nintendo, Sony and
Microsoft”.
Oh….one
more thing! – More Apple Goodies cometh
I’m kinda
disappointed that there’s no news on any other products, such as my blog article entitled “Apple
to launch the Apple iPhone 5S and a S$199 Contract-less Apple iPhone 5C on
Tuesday September 10 2013 - ATL and LIME Jamaica may not get Goldfinger that's
Made for China”.
But with rumours already trickling
our about the Apple iPad and its Mini Me Cousin, the Apple iPad Mini as stated
in “Purported pics of Apple's iPad 5, iPad Mini 2 hit the Web”, published September 12, 2013 9:28 AM PDT by Don Reisinger,
CNET
News, it portends to
one fact: it’s only a matter of time before we get yet another Bite of the
Apple!
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