New phone security measures are starting to take hold
Ryan Scott
Apple’s new iPhone 5S went on sale Friday and implemented fingerprint identification as a means of security for the new phone.
The fingerprint reader, known as Touch ID will be featured on the home screen of the phone, and unlock the phone upon touching it with your finger.
According to Apple’s website Touch ID is mean to be faster, easier and more secure.
In addition to unlocking the phone, Touch ID can also be used to approve purchases from iTunes and the App Store without having to enter a password.
“If hackers get ahold of your thumbprint, they could use it to identify and impersonate you for the rest of your life,” said Senator Al Franken, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law.
Franken stated this in a letter to Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook along with other concerns about the new technology.
Franken, among others have mixed opinions about new security technologies such as Apple’s Touch ID.
“What if someone finds your phone and they can’t get into it to see who it belongs to if they want to return it?” said Franchessga Navarro, a current MCC student.
Navarro went on to add that she feels the use of fingerprinting can be a positive thing, because the technology is intended to keep these things safe.
Previously, the most common form of security protection for cell phones was the numeric password.
This may soon change with emerging technologies.
In addition to the advent of fingerprint scanning consumers may soon see eye scanning technology.
EyeVeryify has developed an app called Eyeprint which will employ the cell phones camera to take a picture of the users eye and wont unlock the phone until verifying that the eye belongs to the user.
The company has stated that the technology is not quite ready but will be soon and will then be released to the public.
“I can’t tell you much,” said Roy Trudell, an employee of RFMD, who has done work for smartphones in recent history.
The company previously worked on the iPhone 5 and may be working with other major cell phone companies in the near future who are expected to follow in Apple’s footsteps and implement these new security technologies.
Trudell expressed his excitement for working on the projects but isn’t allowed to disclose any details for confidentiality purposes.
