Difference between revisions of "Touch ID"

Revision as of 16:46, 11 March 2021

Touch ID was first made by Apple Inc. as a fingerprint recognition security feature on iPhones. It was used to unlock iPhones, for purchases on app stores, and to use Apple Pay. Touch ID was first introduced in 2013 with iPhone 5S, and with time the Touch ID was improved and added to even more Apple products. Although the Touch ID is still used and incorporated in many Apple products today, Face ID, a facial recognition security feature, is used a lot in the new Apple phones. Face ID was introduced in 2017 with the iPhone X and created quite the commotion among many Apple product users.

How the Touch ID works is it uses a sensor to pass a small current to the user's finger and create a 'fingerprint map'. This map is then stored in a chip in your phone called the Apple A7 so hackers cannot externally access that information.

Introduction^[1].

History

In 2012, Apple buys AuthenTec for $356 million and uses their technology to build the Touch ID sensors on the iPhone 5S. Once the Touch ID was finished and perfected, it wasn't long before companies like Motorola and Fujitsu to potentially buy out Apple, but Apple did eventually win. So in 2013, the iPhone 5S came out with the Touch ID, used only to unlock the phone. In certain scenarios, like rebooting the phone, Touch ID is disabled and the user's numerical passcode is required. [15][16] A year later, with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Touch ID was used to unlock the phone and to make purchases in the App Store, iTunes, and Apple Pay. The Touch ID is now on 6S, 6S Plus, 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus, SE (2nd generation), MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iPad Pro, and iPad Air. Simply resting your finger on the sensor area will automatically read the fingerprint and now you can choose for your phone to only show details about your notification when your fingerprint is read. Now with Facial Recognition rising, it seems that Touch ID's time might slowly be coming to an end, however, its impact on our technological advancements has been great.

The Chip

The Fingerprint data was first stored in the Apple A7 chip in the iPhone 5S but with new phones came new chips. They are now stored inside the Apple A8, A8X, A9, A9X, A10, A10X, A11, A12, A13, A14 processors in the iPhones and in the T1 and T2 in the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. Contrary to popular belief, the fingerprints are not stored in iCloud or any place outside the physical iPhone itself.

History Behind FingerPrints

Fingerprints are tiny patterns on the tip of our fingers that are completely unique for each person. No two people have ever been found to have the same fingerprint so it has seen as one of the most secure ways to verify people. Another reason that makes them so secure is that they never change with age and they are even easy to collect from people. The use of fingerprints for security reasons has been used by state prisons, police stations, and even the FBI.

Uses Outside Phones

The FBI and police use fingerprints to identify suspects and solve different crimes involving fingerprints. Often they use fingerprint identification to decide sentences, probation, and paroles. The way they find fingerprints is often through chemical techniques and then find matches through online programs.

Ethical Dilemmas

For the iPhone User, Touch ID is incredibly secure as there is no way anyone else can have the same fingerprint as them. The fingerprint pattern is also remembered and stored in the phone, in the Apple A7 chip, so there is no way for an external source to hack and steal your fingerprint. Although the Touch ID still will have an issue or two occur, it was well thought out and built by Apple. Many people were not completely for the Touch ID when it first came out as it seemed suspicious that the iPhone would use your personal fingerprint, store it, and use it as a security measure. However, the process of the Touch ID is proven to be safe and not store the user's fingerprints anywhere other than inside the user's phone.

Access To Our Information

We know the government has the right to access where our cellphones are located with the identification features of our iPhones. Now with the Touch ID, anytime we send a message or use the Touch ID to purchase an app. They could always find locations based on user's cellphones, but now they can identify who specifically is using the cellphone at that location. Having a person's location easily trackable also opens the door for it to hackable, however, Apple tries hard to assure people of it's security.

The Efficient Texture Comparison patent[14] covering Apple's Touch ID technology states:

"In order to overcome potential security drawbacks, Apple's invention includes a process of collapsing the full maps into a sort of checksum, hash function, or histogram...The exemplary pattern could include the smallest or largest value within a respective vector of the map or could be a difference between a largest and a smallest value within the respective vector of the map. Numerous other exemplary embodiments are also possible, and any other exemplary pattern calculation can be used, where the exemplary pattern includes enough associated information to narrow the candidate list, while omitting enough associated information that the unsecured pattern cannot or cannot easily be reverse engineered into a matching texture."

See also

References

1. ↑ Lim, Brian (December 7, 2016). [e27.co/brief-history-algorithms-important-automation-machine-learning-everyday-life-20161207/ "A Brief History of Algorithms (and Why It's so Important in Automation, Machine Learning, and Everyday Life)"] e27.