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 Is fingerprint login really secure?

Our electronic devices store a plethora of sensitive information. To protect this information, device operating systems such as Apple’s iOS and Android have locking mechanisms. These require user authentication before access is granted.To get more news about lock with fingerprint, you can visit securamsys.com official website.

One of the most common mechanisms is fingerprint login, a form of biometric technology first introduced by Apple in 2013 as Touch ID.

Touch ID was introduced with the intuition that, if there was an easier and quicker way to log in, users would be encouraged to keep stronger passcodes and passwords without sacrificing ease of access. It was supposed to enhance both the usability and security of the device.

However, in application this hasn’t been the case. And most users remain unaware of this initial purpose.

Easy targets
When first unlocking an iPhone after starting it, users are asked to enter a strong six-digit passcode, instead of a simpler four-digit PIN. After that, Touch ID can be used to unlock the phone, to avoid having to re-enter the password multiple times.

The catch is, users can choose to ignore the direction and opt for an easy four-digit PIN, and they usually do.

Researchers found that among Touch ID users, the majority still used weak login codes, mainly four-digit PINs (which are easy to guess). This was also true among people who didn’t use Touch ID.

They also found more than 30% of participants weren’t aware they could use passwords with letters (which are stronger) instead of four-digit PINs.

Some participants indicated they used PINs for quicker access, compared to passwords. And most agreed that Touch ID offered usability benefits including convenience, speed and ease of use.

Interestingly, there was also a disconnect between how secure users thought their passcodes were, and how secure they actually were.A biometric is a unique biological characteristic which can be used to identify and verify a person’s identity. Apart from fingerprints, we see this in facial recognition scans, DNA tests, and less commonly in palm prints, and iris and retina recognition.

Biometrics are marketed as being a very secure solution, because the way biometric data is stored is different to the ways PINs and passwords are stored.

While passwords are stored on the cloud, data from your fingerprint is stored solely on your device. Servers and apps never have access to your fingerprint data, nor is it saved on the cloud.

However, although it’s incredibly hard for cybercriminals to get access to your actual fingerprint data – since it’s encrypted and stored on the device itself – biometric systems are still not completely secure.

For instance, Apple’s fingerprint technology was compromised just two days after the launch of Touch ID (integrated into the iPhone 5S) in 2013. And since then, many people have managed to bypass Touch ID security by using dental mold or play-dough.