The 5S features a fingerprint sensor, has an upgraded camera, and contains an A7 chip Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Hackers from around the world have put together more than $15,000
they hope will be enough to entice the smartest hackers to break into
the new iPhone’s much-lauded fingerprint scanner.
The iPhone 5S, which was announced last week, features a fingerprint
scanner to unlock the device and make purchases. Apple has said that an
image of the fingerprint is not stored on the device, but only the data
to recognize the fingerprint when it is pressed on the sensor.
Security experts quickly grew suspicious after the product was
annouced, though. It is, after all, far easier to change a compromised
password than a compromised fingerprint if the data were to get into the
wrong hands.
To test Apple’s security claims, hackers are taking the challenge global.
The campaign is being run through IsTouchIdHackedYet.com, where individuals can put up their own money to reward the winner of the challenge.
The amount currently being offered is in excess of $15,000.
To win the prize, someone must be able to demonstrate that they:
- Can lift a fingerprint from the iPhone 5S
- Reproduces the fingerprint
- Use the reproduced fingerprint to unlock the iPhone 5S in fewer than 5 attempts
It’s no small challenge.
Apple says the information gathered by the phone is not an image of
the fingerprint but an encrypted pile of data points that describe the
fingerprint. They’ve also said that the information is stored deep
within the phone and will be extremely difficult for anyone, including
Apple, to access. They’ve also said that the fingerprint data will not
be transmitted from the phone in any capacity.
This effectively means that winners of the prize will most likely try
to dust the phone itself for fingerprints and try to replicate the
finger by creating some kind of physical caste of the print to be used
on the scanner.
The bounty is described in greater detail here.
If they succeed, it will be an enormous black eye for Apple, which is very proud of the security of its products.
If the hackers fail, it will be a feather in Apple’s cap that their flagship mobile device could not be foiled.
En-guard.