Unlocking your smartphone by pressing your fingertip against the touchscreen is about to go mainstream, with Qualcomm revealing its new 3D Sonic Sensor technology. The latest iteration of smartphone security, it puts an ultrasonic scanner right beneath the display glass, in what Qualcomm says is a much more functional and secure way to open your phone than rival biometrics.
The TSA wants to widely expand the use of facial recognition technology in US airports, revealing the plan in a newly published roadmap. According to the agency, this plan will "modernize" passenger screening in airports in the relatively near future, using biometric data to identify travelers while speeding up the entire screening process.
The issue of law enforcement and their need to unlock someone's smartphone is a complicated one, both technically and ethically. It turns out Apple's Face ID devices, like the iPhone X and iPhone XS, are only making this more difficult. A new leak has revealed that a forensics company is teaching police to not look at the screens of suspects' iPhones with Face ID, in turn ensuring they get as many chances as possible to unlock the device.
Delta has announced plans to launch the first biometric terminal in the United States, an optional experience offered to international travelers at Maynard H. Jackson International Terminal F in Atlanta, Georgia. Customers won't be forced to use this technology if they're uncomfortable with it, but rather will have it as an alternative option to reduce the amount of time spent waiting.
Google is adding fingerprint authentication to Chrome, with the latest beta of the browser able to tap into biometric sensors like Touch ID on Apple's MacBook Pro. Chrome 70, which was released in the beta channel this week, will allow websites to use fingerprints to authenticate users looking to log-in and more.
There are only a few remaining notable Android tablets left in the market, which gives Apple a huge advantage in that market. It might widen the gap even further if rumors of the upcoming Face ID enabled iPad Pro are true. Unsurprisingly, Samsung might try to preempt that with its upcoming Galaxy Tab S4. Also unsurprisingly, it will try to outdo that key feature. That raises the question of whether Samsung’s Intelligent Scan will be enough, especially since the tablet apparently lacks a fingerprint scanner.
Not all smartphone face unlock features are created equal. Android has long had such a basic feature and so did Windows 10. Apple's Face ID, however, introduced a new level of sophistication, not to mention marketing, that may have made consumers presume that every device advertising "face ID" features would offer the same security and accuracy. As the recent OnePlus 6 face unlock spoofing incident demonstrates, however, that's definitely not the case. And, to be fair, that was never the case for OnePlus in the first place.
Once the only way to protect accounts, be they online or offline, passwords are now seen more as a liability than an ally. Everyone's out to kill it, from Apple to Microsoft to, now, Google. The rollout of the Chrome browser version 67 went almost under the radar. That, however, belies what's inside this feature packed release, which includes the beginning of the end for weak passwords using WebAuthn and something like a secure USB key or even your fingerprint.
Despite year after year of delays, it seems that the in-display fingerprint scanner, alternatively called a fingerprint on display (FOD), is still a goal among smartphone makers. Some are just taking a different route. Vivo, for example, used Synaptics' optical fingerprint scanner on its X20 Play UD, the first commercial phone to sport that feature. But being under the phone's screen and, therefore, subject to the same wear and tear as the display might raise some doubts and concerns over its reliability. To answer those questions, YouTube Marques Brownlee, a.k.a. MKBHD, puts that FOD to the test.
How far will law enforcers go to unlock a smartphone? Given how critical these mobile devices have become these days, it seems they're willing to go through sometimes morbid lengths to access what could be, but not yet confirmed, evidence inside. And, yes, that includes trying to unlock phones using the deceased's own fingers. That is what two detectives in Largo, Florida attempted to do when the walked into a funeral home to unlock the phone that belonged to the deceased. But while the detectives didn't do anything illegal, they are being called out for being unethical or, at the very least, insensitive.
Passwords have become practically useless, even dangerous, thanks to human frailty. That is why tech companies keep on trying to kill the password with two-factor authentication, fingerprints, faces, and even security keys. Working with the Fast Identity Online (FIDO) alliance, Microsoft is updating its Windows Hello security framework to work with the newly ratified FIDO2 security keys. This means that, in the future, Windows computers can be unlocked with a fingerprint tapped on a removable USB key.
Encryption technology research firm PACid Technologies has filed a lawsuit against Samsung Electronics for allegedly infringing upon its biometric patents. The complaint was filed in the Texas Eastern District Court on April 6. In it, PACid claims Samsung has violated three of its patent, two of them filed in the United States and the third in South Korea. All three relate to data encryption.