biometrics

Read Cult of Mac’s latest posts on biometrics:

Today in Apple history: Apple acquires the company behind Touch ID

By

Touch ID
Touch ID was a massive step forward for Apple.
Photo: Apple

July 28: Today in Apple history: Apple acquires AuthenTec, the company behind Touch ID July 28, 2012: Apple buys biometrics company AuthenTec, acquiring the technology that will power future authentication and secure payments initiatives.

With a price tag of $356 million, the deal gives Apple the right to use AuthenTec hardware, software and patents. In the short term, Apple engineers start working to build Touch ID sensors into the iPhone 5s. Longer-term, AuthenTec’s mobile wallet tech paves the way for Apple Pay.

Apple joins alliance dedicated to reducing world’s reliance on passwords

By

Apple joins alliance dedicated to reducing world's reliance on passwords
This image quickly vanished from Twitter. But not the internet.
Photo: Roland Atoui/Twitter

Apple has signed up as a member to the FIDO Alliance, an organization whose mission is to develop and promote authentication standards for reducing the world’s reliance on passwords.

The news was made public in the form of a photo from a recent FIDO Alliance conference, describing Apple as a new member of the group. However, the tweet was rapidly deleted. Nonetheless, the FIDO website confirms that Apple is a board-level member.

Face ID could replace passwords on your favorite websites

By

Facial Recognition
We dream of a day in which biometrics replace passcodes.
Photo: Apple

Face ID could become even more useful thanks to a newly launched Web Authentication standard, which could replace regular web passcodes with biometric identification. This is via an API created by the FIDO Alliance and W3C. It allows users to access any online service in a browser through password-free FIDO Authentication.

While Apple already allows Face ID to autofill usernames and passcodes on iOS, this could go one step further by replacing the passcode altogether. This would make it a more secure option.

Apple’s next AirPods may pack health sensors

By

Apple AirPods
AirPods could soon do more than just play music
Photo: Apple Apple

Your next set of Apple earbuds might be about to get some serious health upgrades.

Tracking your heart rate while jogging soon may only require using earbuds, as a new patent filing show that Apple seems very serious about adding biometric sensing to its AirPods.

Face value: 7 thoughts about biometrics and the iPhone 8

By

Apple will undoubtedly play it smart when it comes to bringing facial recognition to the iPhone 8.
Apple will undoubtedly play it smart when it comes to bringing facial recognition to the iPhone 8.
Photo: Jeshoots/Pixabay CC

By Joey Pritikin

Over the last five years, biometrics has evolved from the stuff of crime scene investigation and science fiction movies to a broad set of technologies that make our lives easier, more personal, and more secure. Starting with the Touch ID sensor in the iPhone 5s, Apple led the way in the acceptance and adoption of biometrics.

The latest indications are that Apple is embracing a face-recognition approach that goes beyond a standard 2D, visible-light sensor. When used in a situation where there are only a handful of approved users, like a consumer mobile device, the promise is great.

Siri could soon recognize your voice for added security

By

Sorry, Alexa: Siri still the most widespread AI assistant
Siri could be about to get more security conscious.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Siri may soon respond to your voice and your voice alone, according to a recently-published patent application from Apple.

The security feature would essentially expand the biometric security system of Touch ID to voice, so that Siri’s voice recognition could also be used to unlock devices or potentially even confirm payments on Apple Pay.

New security chip combines fingerprints with facial recognition

By

Some selfies are harmless.
Unlock your phone by snapping a quick selfie!
Photo: Per Gosche/Flickr CC

Leading human interface solution developer Synaptics has announced a new “multi-factor biometric fusion” security system for mobile devices and PCs, built around a combination of both fingerprint and facial recognition.

The system would allow users to either set up extra secure logins requiring multiple forms of biometric ID, or have devices which could intelligently choose the most convenient mode for an occasion — such as opting for facial recognition when a person is likely wearing gloves.

Apple Watch could use heart rate sensor to ID you

By

Apple Watch
Your pulse may one day unlock your Apple Watch.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Future versions of the Apple Watch may be able to identify owners just by taking their pulse.

Apple was awarded a patent this week that details the use of biometrics on a smartwatch that can identify the user based on their heart rate and other variables. All without the users having to make any input.

Apple clashes with Indian government over iPhone security demands

By

Apple supplier is increasing its ability to build masses of iPhones in India
Apple's hit another big roadblock in India.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is trying its darndest to grow its brand in India but, just like Apple’s troubles in China, it seems to be running into problems with the government.

According to a new report, the Indian government is currently trying to force foreign smartphone makers — Apple included — to bake in Indian-developed biometric technology, designed to allow users to access a range of public and private services, such as banking.

And Apple’s none too happy about it!

Future phones could be unlocked by monitoring brain waves

By

Never mind Touch ID, this could be the best way of unlocking future phones.
Never mind Touch ID, this could be the best way of unlocking future phones.

Touch ID made unlocking your phone faster than previously, but you know what’s more secure than fingerprints as authentication? Brainwaves.

That’s according to Blair Armstrong of the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain, and Language in Spain, who feels that the most secure type of biometrics technology could one day involve measuring the brain response of individual tech users to various words or acronyms.

YubiKey wants to be like Touch ID for your Internet life

By

YubiKey opens the way to online security. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
YubiKey can make online security easy -- if it gains widespread adoption. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

LAS VEGAS — Nobody wants to get hacked like Jennifer Lawrence’s iCloud account. Everyone, including Apple, is pushing two-factor authentication in the wake of the high-profile hack that exposed dozens of celebrities nude selfies, but verifying an account login with a code sent to your phone is a total pain.

Cult_of_Mac_CES_2015 In the not-so-distant future, we might all be storing two-factor authentication on our keychains.

Yubico is already providing eight out of 10 Silicon Valley companies with a tiny USB dongle called YubiKey that securely verifies an employee’s online identity. You just plug it into a computer and tap it when it’s time to log in. Now that Gmail has started supporting YubiKey on the front end, anyone can use it as the second verification step for getting into their inbox.

Will Biometrics Replace Passwords As Keys To Our Digital Lives?

By

The fingerprint: A brilliant convenience or key to a dystopian future?
The fingerprint: A brilliant convenience or key to a dystopian future?

With the touch of a button, Apple’s iPhone 5s will change the mobile industry. And Touch ID, the fingerprint reader built into the latest iPhone, just may simplify your life.

Thanks to its insanely simple implementation in the phone’s Home button, Apple has taken the first big step toward making its mobile devices even more central to the daily process of more efficiently managing the security-dependent details of our daily lives.

Zeo Sleep Manager Mobile: It’s a Scale — But For Sleep, Not Weight [Review, Fitness Special]

By

zeo-sleep-manager-mobile-5

The idea behind the Zeo Sleep Manager Mobile ($99) is that the quality of your sleep affects your health in a bigger way than we generally recognize, and that measuring the amount of time we sleep and its quality — then quantifying that sleep with a number on a 100-point scale — will give us the information we need to improve our sleep, and ultimately our health.