Given the fact that user information might be the most lucrative thing other than oil these days, it was no surprise when Apple first talked about a fingerprint scanner coming to the newest model of the iPhone and the first thing that people thought about was identity theft. Not that you use your fingerprint anywhere else like banks or work, but you could be the next mass murder should someone be able to duplicate your print as their own. The Touch ID technology is going to be a hot topic for a little while, but Apple wanted to clear the air and make sure that users know that their information is safe.
The idea behind the Touch ID software is that it will be able to authenticate a user very quickly allowing access to the iPhone 5S. The software is also tied into making purchases via the iTunes and App store, where it is required that users enter a passcode or physical PIN number. As soon as the Touch ID slideshow was over, users started to speculate what it could mean to have access to your fingerprint loaded on your smartphone. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Touch ID software does not actually store your fingerprint, rather it only stores “fingerprint data”.
“Apple’s new Touch ID system only stores “fingerprint data,” which remains encrypted within the iPhone’s processor, a company representative said Wednesday. In practice, this means that even if someone cracked an iPhone’s encrypted chip, they likely wouldn’t be able to reverse engineer someone’s fingerprint.” Hopefully, the report is right and Apple iPhone users can rest easy at night knowing that the NSA is not making a database of millions of fingerprints without even trying to. Twitter was a flutter shortly after the software was announced and for the most part, the NSA was the main concern.
The new feature was talked about extensively over the last month or more and promoted even more. Apple is keeping access to the data restricted from third party developers at least for now, which shows that Apple already has the privacy concerns in mind. Even with the limited access, a few analysts thought that the new software would keep the fraud from the iTunes App store. JP Morgan Chase is one of the most aggressive banks when it comes to flagging iTunes fraud.
