German Hacker Group Says It’s Broken The iPhone’s TouchID Fingerprint Reader – Forbes

German Hacker Group Says It’s Broken The iPhone’s TouchID Fingerprint Reader – Forbes.

Within just days of the release of the new iPhone 5s, it appreas that hackers have already found a way to break Apples new fingerprint-based biometric security feature, TouchID.

Apple indicates that it is working on fixes to this apparent vulnerability already, but in the meantime, it just goes to show that reliance on new security standards or features must be done cautiously until that system is thoroughly vetted.

Forewarned, fore-armed.

The State Of Mobile App Privacy Policies | TechCrunch

The State Of Mobile App Privacy Policies | TechCrunch.

TechCrunch addresses the current state of the mobile app industry with respect to privacy policies.

The past year has seen some noteworthy scandals regarding apps that treat sensitive user data in undisclosed (and sometime hair-raising) manners. Path’s access to and siphoning off of private address book data is just one example of this.

As a result of growing concerns over the handling of sensitive data by mobile apps, Both the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) and the California state Attorney General’s office have gotten far more aggressive in terms of pushing compliance with privacy laws and the creation of workable industry standards. The California Attorney General in particular has announced that it will be enforcing California’s Online Privacy Protection Act against app developers.

With greater attention (and enforcement efforts) under way, app developers need to pay far more attention to industry best practices on privacy issues, including putting in place app privacy polices (and making them readily available to its customers).