A contest for the fastest hacker who can break in to Apple's fingerprint scanner has began with a $13,000 cash prize. The Apple Fingerprint Scanner is a new biometrics security feature of which would improve security of data in user's device, Reuters reports.
Several security analysts offered the $13,000 prize together with booze, books, Bitcoin currency and other goods to the winner of the contest found in the site istouchidhackedyet.com/.
$10,000 of the prize came from Arturas Rosenbacher of the IO Capital in Chicago. The contest aims to draw the best hacking groups in order to find new undiscovered bugs to the benefit of Apple Inc. He also said that it is safer to do this since it will allow to fix potential issues before they get discovered by those with bad intentions.
These good natured hackers who will help expose security flaws are called “white hats.” They reveal the flaws to device manufacturers and help solve the bug issues to avoid cybercrimes. Their goal is to find the security flaws before the “black hats” find it first.
Hackers are now preparing for this contest while waiting for the iPhone 5S launch. Cyber intelligence analyst David Kennedy is one of them. "I am just waiting to get my hands on it to figure out how to get around it first," he said to Reuters. He was part of the U.S. Marine Corps prior establishing his consulting company TrustedSec LLC.
The extent of the risk in bypassing this security feature is that the hackers could access highly confidential and sensitive information on the iPhone and make unauthorized purchases in iTunes, Apple App Store or other terminals through the mobile device.
Charlie Miller, a security engineer, said that it is possible for Kennedy and other bright minds to circumvent the lock in two weeks or less. Miller is popular in the hacking community after discovering iPhone bugs and bypassing the security of the Apple App Store.
Experts say that the Apple fingerprint reader has no apparent flaws with reference to the disclosed information regarding the product. This is because white hats who had found issues on security of Apple devices since 2007 has helped Apple improve its security features making it one of the top security-protected devices in the market.
