A new video has been posted by Anonymous that portrays the NSA using the new Touch ID fingerprint of iPhone 5s to collect the fingerprints of users. However, Apple states that this is entirely not true.
According to Apple, the Touch ID feature does not store fingerprint images. The only thing it stores is the fingerprint’s mathematical representation.
The handset also includes a new security architecture known as Secure Enclave, which we have already covered in the past when talking about the new A7 chip. Its main purpose is to protected the data of fingerprint and protect passcode.
Here’s the video:
The Secure Enclave makes use of the fingerprint data to verify that the user’s fingerprint is matching the enrolled fingerprint data. And the architecture is enclosed from the rest of iOS and rest of A7. This means that the data can’t be accessed by any part of iOS, or any of Apple’s server, third party apps, and the iCloud or anywhere for that matter. The data can’t also be matched with other fingerprint databases.
So as it is evident, the Touch ID is pretty secure on the iPhone 5s.
Do you still think Touch ID is not secure? Feel free to leave comments.
Apple’s support document on Touch ID security can be found here.
