iPhone Fingerprint Sensor Worth Extra Cost By Anick Jesdanun, AP Technology Writer | Cupertino, Calif. September 18, 2013 (AP) Excerpts When I got my hands on Apple's new iPhone 5S, one of the first things I tried was a feature that allows you to bypass the passcode using a fingerprint. The fingerprint sensor alone is worth the extra $100 you'll pay for the 5S over an iPhone 5C. Both phones will come out Friday. In the week I've had with both, I've also been impressed with the better camera and slow-motion video in the 5S. When you set up the 5S, you're asked to tap the home button with a finger several times so the phone can create a mathematical representation of your print. To unlock the phone, you simply tap the home button, and the phone will compare the two taps. You can tap from any angle, even sideways or upside down. This fingerprint ID also works as a way to authenticate the purchase of apps and content within apps. For security reasons, there are still times you'll need your four-digit passcode, including after 48 hours of inactivity and before adding a new fingerprint. If the phone fails to recognize your print, you can always use the passcode. Apple says it stores the print data on your phone, in a place that's inaccessible to other apps or to Apple's remote servers. I'm convinced Apple has given a lot of thought to security. If you're still uneasy about the fingerprint scan, you can stick with the passcode. The feature is optional. The 5C is for those who really want the bright color. If you can do with silver, gold or gray, get the 5S instead. The fingerprint sensor will make security less annoying, and the better camera will be more useful in documenting life. A hundred dollars isn't that much when you compare it with the full price of the phone. Apple is discontinuing last year's iPhone 5, but will still offer the 2011 edition, the iPhone 4S. That's now free with a two-year agreement. read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=20287597 ...... IMO: The 5S sounds exciting except for the fingerprint thingy. With every company now giving NSA full information on every customer who signs up, a stored fingerprint just makes any case against you easier in the future. My brother has a 5C and he takes the most gorgeous pics of cats and kittens and they are all bright, beautiful to look at, and very relaxing. He does take a very beautiful pic of a cat with exactly the right lighting and action. He took one pic outside his house looking in the window with the cat standing up and hissing and pawing at him thru the window that is genetic perfection showing the cats predisposed feral heritage.
...... UPDATE: Apple's iPhone 5S Fingerprint Scanner 'Hacked' by Ben Sullivan| 23 September 2013 A German group created a fake fingerprint and unlocked the device. Germany's Chaos Computer Club has announced that, as we all thought, biometric data is not safe. In a video posted by the group, a fake fingerprint is used to unlock one of Apple's new iPhone 5S devices, and it only took them two days to post the video from release. In a post on their site, the group says that their biometric hacking team took a fingerprint of the user, photographed from a glass surface, and then created a "fake fingerprint" which could be put onto a thin film and used with a real finger to unlock the phone. "This demonstrates - again - that fingerprint biometrics is unsuitable as access control method and should be avoided," said the Chaos Club's blogpost author, "Starbug". "In reality, Apple's sensor has just a higher resolution compared to the sensors so far. So we only needed to ramp up the resolution of our fake. As we have said now for more than years, fingerprints should not be used to secure anything. You leave them everywhere, and it is far too easy to make fake fingers out of lifted prints." The group does not claim to have extracted the fingerprint representation from the phone itself, where Apple says it is held on a secure chip. Instead it relies on capturing a high-quality fingerprint elsewhere, and having access to the phone. http://www.cbronline.com/news/tech/software/malware/apples-iphone-5s-fingerprint-scanner-hacked ....... oops: It took only two days for the Chaos Club of Germany to hack it with a clever new fingerprint put onto a thin film and used with a real finger to unlock the phone. Now they shouldn’t charge extra for the new Apple fingerprint innovation if it can be hacked so easily. Next year they will be giving them away with a 2-year contract. What an embarrassment for Apple.
Apple computers are about as "secure" as a blondes bra strap. Sorry but Apple is the absolute last company I would look toward for security purposes. The virus that went around either last year or the year before showed how unprepared they really are. I also remember how quickly the first iPhones were jailbroken so that unofficial apps and software could be used. No thanks, Apple iPhones were once the best but competitors like the Galaxy have progressed far beyond the IPhone at this point in time.
