Apple has always been a company that pours a tremendous amount of time and care into its products. Apple’s Iphone has repeatedly outsold smartphones from other manufacturers, despite the higher price tags and how infrequently a new version is released. Apple is always at least one step ahead of the competition, changing or even creating new markets for consumers. With the announcement of the new Iphone planned for September 10, we are about to see how Apple will change the market again, and this time in the field of security.
Along with the official announcement of the new iOS 7, Apple’s September 10th announcement will reveal the new Iphone, thus far referred to as the “5S”. Among the big features that have been rumored for the new phone, arguably the greatest one is the fingerprint scanner. The 5S will have a built-in fingerprint scanner to allow users to access the phone without entering passowords. This feature is a great step for smartphone privacy, but some question how secure this new feature really will be. While it is true that every fingerprint is unique, pingerprints are left by person everywhere he or she goes, without him or her realizing it. A user’s fingerprint is out there, and some may try to exploit this.
In most cases, however, this will not be an issue for most users. While it is true that fingerprint scanners can be compromised, the amount of work it would take to get a good fingerprint copy makes it a trivial issue. It is not perfect, but it is a tremendous step forwasrd, and undoubtedly other phone companies will soon follow suit.