Android Identity Check will secure your phone from even a stolen PIN

[phillynews215]

• Identity Check requires mandatory biometric authentication, in addition to a PIN.
• The opt-in feature will engage when using your phone outside a trusted location.
• Google intends to start deploying Identity Check later this year.

Google is in the middle of delivering some major upgrades to Android security right now, as Theft Detection Lock starts rolling out wide, protecting your phone from someone snatching it and running. But that’s just the tip of iceberg, and with all the myriad threats our devices face, Google’s constantly cooking up new ways to protect our hardware and information from bad actors. Today we’re getting a little preview of one of those upcoming features currently under development, as Google announces Identity Check.

We’re all familiar with falling back to a PIN or password in lieu of biometrics. Maybe we’re rebooting a device, and Android insists upon the PIN for extra security, or a stubborn fingerprint scanner just refuses to read our dirty hands and we go with the PIN as a backup. Identity Check is basically the opposite of that.




More...