Apple Faces Privacy Challenge With The Launch of Apple Pay And Apple Watch

Apple launched new products last Tuesday and aside from what the company usually offers, new products like Apple Pay and Apple Watch were also launched. New features include health monitoring technologies and a wireless payment system. It means that Apple has to keep sensitive data like credit card numbers and heart rates.

But with the news about a security breach from Apple where nude photos of celebrities were posted over the internet. Apple denied the security breach issue and claims that there is no issue detected on its end, still Apple's ability to protect sensitive data were questioned.

With these new features from Apple, threats coming from hackers to steal credit card information and for the health data to be kept private are some of the things that Apple has to face.

The recent security breach issue was such a bad timing because it came right before the launching of the new products where it is still fresh in the minds of the people. To battle this, Apple prepared and carefully drafted the information so that its consumers may know about how it takes care of the sensitive data on the Apple Pay and the Apple Watch.

CEO Tim Cook stated in an interview that unlike its competition like Amazon and Google that relies on tracking the activities of the users for its advertising and marketing businesses, Apple is still earning money mainly from selling devices, according to NYTimes.

Apple fans can start using the Apple Pay next month and according to Apple, it does not store the payment details on the devices or on the Apple server. Instead, it simply acts as a channel between the business and the bank. According to Apple Head of Operations Jeff Williams, The company does not allow developers to store health data on cloud computing servers. All health data will be encrypted on the device and users can also choose apps to allow access on those.

NYTimes also reports that some experts provide positive feedbacks on the new payment system. It relies on near-field communication to exchange data between the devices. Apple Pay could use EMV for Europay, MasterCard and Visa that is reported to be more secured compared to the magnetic stripes on the credit cards since the number are dynamic for every purchase. This feature will make it difficult for hackers steal. EMV is widely used in Europe.

When it comes to the Apple Watch, to secure sensitive data, Apple updated its guidelines for app developers where it strongly states that apps for the HealthKit and the new set of tools for health and fitness should not gather sensitive data for advertising and marketing purposes. Instead apps fitness and health oriented and developers are not allowed to share data with third parties without the permission of users.