One lucky hammer group had already nailed the fingerprint sensor of iPhone 5S. The phone will finally hit the sales floor on Friday and another group is already gearing up for breaking into this new security feature from iPhone.
Well the news is that the hacker community is all set to get their hands dirty by cracking into the new Touch ID sensor security system from Apple. The sensor has been embedded on the home button of iPhone 5S. Two security masters Robert David Graham and Nick Depetrillo have launched a website which says that the sensor system has yet not been broken by anyone.
The two have started to collect bounty for anyone who becomes the first person to break into the security ID by acquiring fingerprints through some cup or beer mug etc.
”Gummy bears had already been used by some hackers for acquiring the fingerprints”, says Graham in conversation with the ABC News. He also said that ”we are arguing the fact that it is very hard to do so and therefore have started to gather a bounty for the first lucky one who can do it.”
People from the hacking and the security community have already started to pour in their contributions for the bounty. The hashtag with which the sums are being poured in is #istouchidhackedyet. The sum has already reached a total of 16000 dollars and the contributions are being made in the form of biticons, alcohol bottles and cash. I/O capital Partners have donated 10,000 dollars for this purpose.
Graham explained that a well-established principle among the security communities is that you cannot trust anything unless you have a bounty tagged with it. The concept here is that of return on investment. Well if there is no return for doing any hacking stuff or to test where a security system actually stands, most of the hacker won’t bother putting in any effort. Similarly the ones who will try won’t put in a dedicated effort. Companies like Google, Facebook and some of the other big guns have announced rewards for the one who will indicate any security loophole in their system.
Graham however has clarified the fact that in case someone succeeds in hacking the touch ID, he/she will have to collect the bounty from every person by himself/herself. He will in the meantime place all the new bounties on his website.
No immediate response was given by Apple even after the request by ABC News. However, last week they clarified the fact the fingerprints are encrypted in the processor of the iPhone.
