Stolen Phone

I always try to keep my sensitive information secure, usually using an application that encrypts the information and requires authorization for the application to open. I always felt secure until my phone was stolen. I was calm in general but something kept me uneasy and it was the fact that 2 of my secure applications use my fingerprints as a way to authorize the access, by opening the application and showing the encrypted data. I know that in general an iPhone is secure, however, looking into the Internet I found many web sites that claim to be able to unlock an iPhone using the fingerprints obtained from different sources, one even claimed of having use a fingerprint photo to unlock a phone, there are many videos mostly showing iPhones 5 been unlocked using different techniques to simulate your fingerprints to unlock the phone.

I can’t verify if those videos or articles provide true information but I started to feel that my information may be compromise. It is usually a bad idea to use the same password for everything and for the fingerprint applies the same. You can use it to unlock your phone and also to have access to secure applications.

What I am trying to tell is that, even though, phones provide a good security mechanism and probably the thefts are not interested in your information but in the handset itself it is a good idea to use different passwords for different things. My suggestion will be if you use your fingerprint to unlock your phone, do not use it to unlock your sensitive information by allowing secure applications to use the same authorization mechanism to open.

By the way, if you need a secure application to store your data, my recommendation is mSecure.