Apple to acquire fingerprint sensor maker AuthenTec for $356M

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  • Reply 21 of 55
    MacPromacpro Posts: 19,873member
    hmm wrote: »

    Considering the article mentions they were already doing this (prior to Apple buying this company) I think it's a given.

    Thank heavens we've all seen countless movies with guides to making a replica of a fingerprint using MI kits.
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  • Reply 22 of 55
    monstrositymonstrosity Posts: 2,234member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by dasanman69 View Post





    How would he know? Apple doesn't use it yet, meanwhile it's been on laptops for years.


     


    Yeah but it is crap, and used on laptops as the sole method of logging on. I don't see Apple integrating this unless it is used in addition to other security methods.


    As I said above, my whole house and everything I touch has my fingerprint on it, including the stolen iPhone or laptop the thief wants to break into!

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  • Reply 23 of 55
    adonissmuadonissmu Posts: 1,776member


    So how do you replicate the finger print push? Maybe a finger print in combination with a password might be the way to go.

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  • Reply 24 of 55
    monstrositymonstrosity Posts: 2,234member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AdonisSMU View Post


    So how do you replicate the finger print push? 



     



     


    It's convoluted, but no real biggie for a determined hacker, I'm sure the criminal network already has 'go to' guys that specialise in this sort of thing.

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  • Reply 25 of 55
    jazzyjjazzyj Posts: 10member


    Hmm, I wonder if the sensor could be placed on the existing circle/square ([]) button on iOS devices.  If so you'd be entering your fingerprint every time you push it and the look/operation of the devices wouldn't have to change one bit.

     

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  • Reply 26 of 55
    ochymingochyming Posts: 474member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by monstrosity View Post


     



     


    It's convoluted, but no real biggie for a determined hacker, I'm sure the criminal network already has 'go to' guys that specialise in this sort of thing.



     


    It is really easy.


    image: … or just cut the finger.

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  • Reply 27 of 55
    monstrositymonstrosity Posts: 2,234member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Ochyming View Post


     


    It is really easy.


    image: … or just cut the finger.



    Yeah or you could just chop the finger off!


     


    But seriously, if fingerprinting becomes prevalent, extracting and duplicating finger prints will become easier too. Kits and software will be sold on the black market for any criminal wishing to purchase.


    A quick scan, and a 3D printer, it could be done within minutes. 


    If you think of the skills involved in cracking a password, lifting a fingerprint is a no-brainer by comparison!

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  • Reply 28 of 55
    sr2012sr2012 Posts: 896member
    Guys you can have passcode protection as well as if somebody chopped your finger off. If they get your finger and your passcode then you've got bigger problems than someone drunk-dialing your business associates.

    As always, given how much of our lives are digital, the real problem is the cesspool that is Windows and Android in terms of security and hacking. Then there's always backdoors like when my Skype account got hacked.

    Chaos is in the mind.
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  • Reply 29 of 55
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member
    It also helps to use dictation on Mountain lion.
    Dictated on my MacBook pro.

    ;-)
    Except dictation is another one of those features that's currently only available in the USA!
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  • Reply 30 of 55
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member
    Yeah but it is crap, and used on laptops as the sole method of logging on. I don't see Apple integrating this unless it is used in addition to other security methods.
    As I said above, my whole house and everything I touch has my fingerprint on it, including the stolen iPhone or laptop the thief wants to break into!
    I think unless you work for the CIA, that the fact that it's *possible* in a CSI kind of way, to fake a fingerprint is not the same thing as it being a real risk. The odds of a crackhead or meth addict (the most likely thief of your iPhone), using these methods are pretty slim.

    That being said, you are completely right about it being a poor method of security. Even ignoring fraud, in any large city there are usually a couple of other people with the same (or similar enough for the scanner), fingerprints as any particular individual. The key, (and I think you are the first to mention it on this thread), is to use it as only one part of a multi-pronged security system. Fingerprint plus password or fingerprint plus voice analysis or fingerprint plus picture are all far more secure than any of those methods alone without the fingerprint.
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  • Reply 31 of 55

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by monstrosity View Post


    Yeah or you could just chop the finger off!


     


    But seriously, if fingerprinting becomes prevalent, extracting and duplicating finger prints will become easier too. Kits and software will be sold on the black market for any criminal wishing to purchase.


    A quick scan, and a 3D printer, it could be done within minutes. 


    If you think of the skills involved in cracking a password, lifting a fingerprint is a no-brainer by comparison!



     


    Who says it has to be fingerprints? It involves detecting a pattern and matching it to a known entity...  They could use the front-facing camera and do an eye scan, face scan, hand scan.... maybe use the rear-facing camera for those who like to drop drawer and sit on the Xerox machine.


     


    Seriously, though, I suspect that Apple will be adding higher quality front-facing cameras to their Computers and iDevices -- and these could accommodate reliable security scanning (not the Google kind).


     


    Dictated and typed on my iMac.

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  • Reply 32 of 55


    OT for this thread:


     


     


    Quote:


    In the Risk Factors portion of Microsoft’s latest annual report, the company says quite bluntly, “Our Surface devices will compete with products made by our OEM partners, which may affect their commitment to our platform.”



     


    http://allthingsd.com/20120727/microsoft-okay-maybe-we-are-alienating-pc-makers-with-surface/


     


     


    With apologies to Ray Charles:


     


    Oh, it's cryin' time again, you're gonna leave me

    I can see that far away look in your eyes

    I can tell by the way you hold me darlin' Oooh

    That it won't be long before it's cryin' time



    Now they say that absence makes the heart grow fonder (fonder)

    And that tears are only rain to make love grow

    Well my love for you could never grow no stronger (stronger)

    If I lived to be a hundred years old



    Oh, it's cryin' time again, you're gonna leave me

    I can see that far away look in your eyes

    I can tell by the way you hold me darlin'. Yeah now

    That it won't be long before it's cryin' time



    Now you say you've found someone that you love better (better)

    That's the way it's happened every time before

    And as sure as the sun comes up tomorrow ('morrow)

    Cryin' time will start when you walk out the door



    Oh, it's cryin' time again, you're gonna leave me

    I can see that far away look in your eyes

    I can tell by the way you hold me darlin'. Alright now

    That it won't be long before it's cryin' time

    (That it won't be long before it's cryin' time)

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  • Reply 33 of 55
    mac_128mac_128 Posts: 3,454member
    What happened to retina scanning? The iPhone has a camera and a light. Granted this is kind of overkill when paying for your latte at Starbucks.

    But seriously most security measures currently in use can be defeated, and the more ubiquitous the method, the more the thieves will have access to the tools, fingerprints will be no different should they become the defacto standard.

    But with a reasonable amount of responsibility, the EUs adoption of chip N pin, seems the most practical. Put a unique chip in the phone that is hard to replicate, and then give the user a pin code. That way, the user must have the device and must know the code.

    If the device is stolen, you shut it down. If your pin is compromised, you change it. Simple.

    For added security, the chip transmits a picture of the user to the POS terminal, which polls the users online account information for confirmation, or better yet a government Passport database. Could this be hacked if the device is compromised? Sure ... That's why credit card companies stopped allowing customers to put their photos as IDs on their credit cards. But all of these things in connection with each other will surely make it difficult to do casually.

    Maybe have the chip on a sim card that must be paired with the device, and registered online, so that you can't change any of the imbedded info on the phone without replacing the chip, and both must be registered with the users online account and verified by the user through separate verifications. This way, the device can easily be sold to someone else, but can't be easily hacked to access the users wallet.

    The weak link is the password, which is true for any account anywhere in the world. It's hard for me to believe there is any foolproof way to handle this kind of security that doesnt rely on the user to take some minimal responsibility, which is what these efforts to use fingerprints, face recognition, voice authentication etc. seem to be trying to do.

    Of course none of this will prevent identity theft, which this kind of technology could actually facilitate.
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  • Reply 34 of 55
    monstrositymonstrosity Posts: 2,234member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gazoobee View Post



    I think unless you work for the CIA, that the fact that it's *possible* in a CSI kind of way, to fake a fingerprint is not the same thing as it being a real risk. The odds of a crackhead or meth addict (the most likely thief of your iPhone), using these methods are pretty slim.


     


    You might be surprised, I've known a few dodgy characters in my time, and they are pretty well organised. Sure the crackheads couldn't do it themselves, but there's a 'man who can' for everything. They steal it, take it to 'bob', bob gives them a fraction of it's worth, extracts the data passes data onto 'jim' (who deals in identity theft), installs a new OS then sells it.


     


    Every crack head knows a 'bob'. And not every 'bob' can currently crack fingerprints, but over time black market gadgets will be commonplace within the criminal world.


    Like the ATM overlays which are made in china that copy your pin number and info on the magnetic strip. Just a matter of time.

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  • Reply 35 of 55

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gazoobee View Post



    Except dictation is another one of those features that's currently only available in the USA!


     


    Are you sure?


     


     


    image

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  • Reply 36 of 55
    monstrositymonstrosity Posts: 2,234member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post


     


    Are you sure?


     


     


     



     


    My dictation isn't working in the UK. I thought it was just my computer behaving odd.

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  • Reply 37 of 55
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    gazoobee wrote: »
    Except dictation is another one of those features that's currently only available in the USA!

    Are you sure?


    700

    You are way too kind. He said '...in the USA'. As in 'location'; not the most clever post¡
    The people that created this blog should be forced to only use it on an iPad or iPhone for a month.

    Why just 'or'? Let them try posting from an iPhone and an iPad as well! Double the pain!
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  • Reply 38 of 55

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by monstrosity View Post


     


    My dictation isn't working in the UK. I thought it was just my computer behaving odd.



     


    Sorry... I can't resist:


     


    With apologies to Sexy Rexy


     


    Quote:


    Why can't the English teach their children how to speak? 

    This verbal class distinction by now should be antique. 

    If you spoke as she does, sir, Instead of the way you do, 

    Why, you might be selling flowers, too. 




    An Englishman's way of speaking absolutely classifies him, 

    The moment he talks he makes some other 

    Englishman despise him.

    One common language I'm afraid we'll never get. 

    Oh, why can't the English learn to set


     


    A good example to people whose 

    English is painful to your ears? 

    The Scotch and the Irish leave you close to tears. 

    There even are places where English completely

    disappears.


     


    In America, they haven't used it for years! 




    Why can't the English teach their children how to speak? 

    Norwegians learn Norwegian; the Greeks have taught their 

    Greek. In France every Frenchman knows 

    his language fro "A" to "Zed" 

     


    The French never care what they do, actually, as long as they pronounce in properly. 




    Arabians learn Arabian with the speed of summer lightning. 

    And Hebrews learn it backwards, 

    which is absolutely frightening. 

    But use proper English you're regarded as a freak. 

    Why can't the English,




    Why can't the English learn to speak?


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  • Reply 39 of 55
    monstrositymonstrosity Posts: 2,234member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post


     


    Sorry... I can't resist:...


     


     



     


     


    Oh it's not the way I'm speaking! The little microphone VU doesn't show input. However, I have mic input on all other audio apps working fine.


     


    I am developing a bunch of core audio apps at the mo, so might be something I have done which has broken it.

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  • Reply 40 of 55
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post


     


    Are you sure?


     


     


    image



     


    I probably should have said "in Canada" (what I know for a fact) instead of "outside of the USA" (a likely assumption given the facts).  


     


    I am getting pretty sick and tired of Apple's spotty support for anything outside of the USA though.  For most of the time Apple has been in existence, Canada got the products and software at the same time as the USA.  Now they are international, some things show up in the UK before they show up here, some don't.  Some things don't show up here for years and years after their official release.  


     


    It's not like Canada is f*cking Afghanistan or some other mysogynist backwater of a country.  It's not like we speak another language or have some extremely cryptic regional dialect like Scotland, Wales and England.  We speak better English up here than the UK or the USA in that we pronounce and spell everything the correct way but don't have the wacky unintelligible accents that the Brits enjoy.  


     


    In a few months we will get iOS 6 but in Canada, but Siri (an iOS 5 feature), still doesn't work on any iOS devices, and dictation doesn't work or works poorly on all iOS devices and all Macs because there is no Canadian "voice."  

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