Twaddle is the answer, given hacked thumbprints, too

Opposed thumbs and fingers define the toolmaking, toolwielding primate. So, there is an element of irreverent disregard of anatomical achievement when you deride someone’s clumsiness saying he’s all thumbs.

Now, technology is developing ever-new applications for this digit, which would normally not be what you think of when you hear “digital”. Apple iPhone uses a thumbprint reader to identify the phone’s rightful owner from the not-so-righteous. Of course, Uncle Sam had beaten Apple to it, by insisting that all visa applicants surrender their thumb and finger prints before they are free to enter the land of the free.

Freedom, of course, is granted, not quite born free. If opposed thumbs and fingers are part of the natural order of things, count on digital technology to counter digital technology. So, a determined bunch have figured out how to hack past the iPhone’s thumbprint protective barrier. And collateral damage has been dealt to India’s own Aadhaar, a unique system of identifying people based on thumb and finger prints.

So, Aadhaar-based banking now has an additional layer of security in the shape of a personal identification number (PIN). Just goes to prove that if life indeed seems like a bed of roses, you’ll be lucky if only your thumb is pricked by a PIN.