SOMEONE BUILT A STANDALONE TOUCH ID SENSOR FOR YOUR MAC
macbooks have touch id built into the keyboard, but if youre on a mac mini, studio or imac your only option is buying apples magic keyboard
he made a dedicated sensor that just sits on the desk instead
his mac doesnt even think its a fingerprint reader
> it emulates a smart card, the same tech as your credit card, your sim, and hardware security keys
> a smart card holds a secret that never leaves the card. the mac sends it a random challenge, the card signs it, the mac verifies the signature
> so the mac never receives a password, it just gets cryptographic proof the card holds the secret
> then he gates the whole thing behind your fingerprint. the chip refuses to run the smart card protocol until a valid print is presented
> your login screen literally says pin instead of password because macos has no idea whats actually going on
however the catch is the fingerprint sensor talks to the chip over two unencrypted wires, so anyone with physical access could impersonate the sensor and authorise a login
but everyone asks how secure is it, nobody asks how secure does it need to be
this thing sits on his desk in his house and never leaves, so he sealed it in black epoxy to make tampering harder and called it done
AND its open source too
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