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Comment by eli | Hacker News Reader

I don't get why people are making such a big deal out of this. The iPhone lock screen is not intended to provide very strong security. I suspect the fingerprint scanner is more secure than the 4 digit PIN it's replacing for most users.

I've got a Thinkpad with a fingerprint scanner from 8 years ago. Works fine, but frankly it's easier to just type a password.

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If you read this article by Apple, you'd imagine they were doing something sophisticated, that would not be defeated by a high-res fingerprint image. I honestly thought they were doing something better.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5949?viewlocale=en_US&locale=e...

It gives a false illusion of high security to common people. People might feel their phone is now secure enough to store their bank passwords. I suspect some already do anyway :)

Probably to get across the message that biometrics are not a secure replacement/alternative to passwords, contrary to what most people think because they feel that no one else can "fake" their fingerprints.

Biometrics ARE a more secure replacement/alternative to passwords.

Are they perfect ? No. But nothing is.

I'd be very interested to hear how you think brute forcing my 22 character password is easier than stealing my laptop and fooling the fingerprint sensor.

Think of it in more relative terms. The average iPhone user isn't going to be using a 4 character PIN, let alone a 22 character one. While the approach taken by Apple has a number of very real drawbacks, upgrading from no security to good (but still hackable) security is a huge deal.

This isn't going to keep the NSA out of your phone, but it will serve to keep the average smash-n-grab thief or other low-skilled random out of your phone.

It's important research. Everyone seems has their own idea of what the "intention" of a security feature is. Now that we have results, there is no need for speculation and debate. This is how we improve security and keep an informed public.

Right. I don't value the fingerprint scanner as some security breakthrough, rather it's just a convenient way for me to login to my phone and buy things in iTunes.

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