Apple’s Touch ID – Fingerprint Passcode

Fingerprint readers had been used on several enterprise level laptops from Toshiba, Lenovo and many others in the business world but were ignored by the consumers. The Touch ID was branded as a gimmick when first seen on the Apple iPhone 5s with some regarding it as a new foray into biometric security, a sort of helping in justifying the new 5s’ upgrade over the latest iPhone 5.

With the launch of the Apple Pay system, there is now a tendency among consumers to store sensitive details on the device and the biometric ID is gaining importance as a viable system of authentication.

Moreover, the latest celebrity iCloud hacking has also left most of the consumers to seek an alternative to the username and password. With Touch ID, consumers use their fingerprint as a passcode and with a touch of the Home button; the Touch ID sensor tends to read the fingerprint and unlocks the device. Besides, it could also be used in authorizing purchases done from the iTunes Store, iBooks Store and App Store.

System for Quick Authentication

Fingerprint readers, which is a system for quick authentication, offers secured and a convenient security since they rely on something which is difficult to hack on your personal information. Besides it is faster and more secured than a four digit passcode and the fingerprint sensor is gaining traction as the latest proof of identity.

The Apples’ Touch ID is placed in the spaced reserved for the plastic Home button in a range of integrated technologies to provide swift, biometric recognition. Created from steel capacitive ring, image sensor, sapphire lens and secure enclave, the Touch ID is dependent on a range of components which work in harmony to provide the authentication process.

The silver ring seen around each Touch ID is a capacitive sensor designed to detect when the finger is present and the silver ring activates the rest of the Touch ID assembly and saves the battery life by making sure it is not `on’ always.

Functions Like Scanner

The Touch ID functions like a scanner used for scanning photographs. Protected by layers of durable and the sapphire glass, the image of the fingerprint is aimed directly on the Touch ID sensor which is only 170 microns thin with slightly thicker than human hair and can scan the image at 500ppi, higher than the 326ppi resolution of iPhone 6 screen.

After the scanning, a high definition image is taken which is temporarily stored in secure enclave for analysis. On measuring the features of the fingerprint, like the sub dermal ridge flow angles the process then identifies the fundamental aspects which make the fingerprint unique thus producing a unique key.

When the unique fingerprint data is collected the mathematical representation of the scan remains which is stored and encrypted without the identity on the iDevice which cannot be used anywhere.

Each time the phone is unlocked, the scanning process is repeated and the fingerprint is analysed and if the data key generated tallies with the one that is already stored on the iDevice, the handset gets unlocked. At the time of processing payment with Apple Pay, successful fingerprint match results in the device autofilling the stored keychain information whenever needed.