Farzin commented ‘Of course fingerprint sensors on mobile phones are not unique in acting as a privacy threat. Phones also provide voice and face data to potential abusers of privacy. Apple claims that the fingerprint image is not stored on the phone. There have been technologies under development in recent years to enhance the privacy aspects of biometric technologies and these could certainly ensure that only an encrypted version of features extracted from the fingerprint image are stored and used for authentication. However, risks of spoofing attacks remain with the possibility of fraudsters creating synthetic fingers using data lifted from genuine fingerprints. It remains to be seen whether the new release from Apple has indeed managed to find the right balance of usability, security and privacy in one product. The jury is still out!’
The podcast of the interview can be found here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/inscience#playepisode1