According to the application filed with the United States Patent Office, the Apple is developing a hardware-based user authentication system. The idea is to link identity to a specific device. This means that the system could be linked to documents of international value, such as passports, but also local value, such as driver's licenses, etc., which would be replaced by cell phones.
The patent application describes the technology as an “alternative for people to stop presenting paper documents and start identifying themselves through their iPhone.” The application also suggests that the technology would solve the bureaucracy caused by issuing and authenticating documents, through a unique identification system.
Identities linked to chips
It is worth remembering that digital documents are already a reality. In Brazil, for example, it is already possible to have electronic versions of the ID, CPF, CNH, SUS Card and even the Work Card. However, what Apple proposes something different, since authentication will not happen through applications, but via the devices' hardware.
A Apple did not specify how the passport technology would work on cell phones, only describing that it can use protocols such as NFC and Face ID itself to authenticate users, in addition to a dependency system based on security chips. According to the company, authentication should happen in a similar way to what is already done with T2 chips – present in MacBooks, iPads and iPhones since 2014, it is the one that guarantees the security and encryption of financial transactions carried out with the Apple Pay.
In the case of identities, however, the system would work differently, mixing the authentication system with different combinations of security keys. Almost a two-factor authentication, in which both the user and those who check the information have their information authenticated.
Street: Apple Insider
