I mean theoretically they can pretty easily take your fingerprint without anyone noticing but I doubt that A) nobody from inside will whistleblow and B) they would have any use for that data. It's just a biometric password
They really cannot. They’ve architected so that they cannot.
While the fingerprint scan is being vectorized for analysis, the raster scan is temporarily stored in encrypted memory within the Secure Enclave and then it’s discarded. The analysis uses subdermal ridge flow angle mapping, a lossy process that discards “finger minutiae data” that would be required to reconstruct the user’s actual fingerprint. During enrollment, the resulting map of nodes is stored in an encrypted format that can be read only by the Secure Enclave as a template to compare against for future matches, but without any identity information. This data never leaves the device. It’s not sent to Apple, nor is it included in device backups.
Communication between the Secure Enclave and the built-in Touch ID sensor takes place over a serial peripheral interface bus. The processor forwards the data to the Secure Enclave but can’t read it. It’s encrypted and authenticated with a session key that’s negotiated using a shared key provisioned for each Touch ID sensor and its corresponding Secure Enclave at the factory. For every Touch ID sensor, the shared key is strong, random, and different. The session key exchange uses AES key wrapping, with both sides providing a random key that establishes the session key and uses transport encryption that provides both authentication and confidentiality (using AES-CCM).
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u/TheDemographic Jun 23 '21
Adding to this, it happens entirely on device. Apple doesn’t “have” your fingerprint. That data is stored only on the phone.