With the iPad and iPhone’s increasing popularity in enterprise environments, Apple might finally be ready to take serious steps to beef up iOS device security: a new patent titled “Systems and Methods for Identifying Unauthorized Users of an Electronic Device” describe future iPhones and iPads that could bond with its owner and initiative security measures if an unknown person was trying to access it.
According to the patent, future iOS devices cold use voice print analysis, face analysis and even the rhythm of a user’s heartbeat to determine whether or not the current user was the one that device has been paired to. It would also be able to detect suspicious activity like hacking attempts, or “particular activities that [indicate] suspicious behavior.” Presumably, that could be anything, from the order in which apps are launched to the speed and staccato of a user’s typing.
If an unauthorized user was detected, the iOS device in question could then go into lockdown mode, taking a FaceTime snapshot of the user’s face while simultaneously logging all keystrokes and phone calls made, as well as the GPS location of the device at the time of the unauthorized entry. Furthermore, a warning could be pushed into the cloud to the user’s authorized owner, as well as the automatic uploading of sensitive data and then a complete, spontaneous device wipe.
It’s an interesting patent, and it would certainly go a long way to satisfying the security misgivings many corporations have about iOS devices. Unfortunately, Apple patents just as often as not flow forth from Cupertino like corporate fever dreams; until we actually see these features in action on a real-world device, there’s no telling how serious Apple is taking this parent.
[via Ars Technica]
