Here are your Apple rumors and AAPL news items for today:

Digital Protection: Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is planning to introduce an enhanced security feature on its next-generation iPhone and upcoming smartwatch, AppleInsider notes. Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White says that the company will include fingerprint scanners on both the iPhone 5S and the iWatch. The security offered by the scanner will allow Apple to enable credit card payment through the devices. According to White, the scanner will be the primary selling point for the iPhone 5S. Apple will ultimately expand the technology to a wider range of products, including the iWatch. White says the iWatch will launch later this year and could be tied to the debut of an Apple-branded TV set. The iPhone 5S is expected to debut in July.

Unbreakable: The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has been unable to intercept messages sent through Apple’s iMessage, CNET notes. In an internal memo, DEA officials noted that criminals could use the service to transmit messages that would be unreadable by law enforcement authorities. More than 300 billion messages have been sent through iMessage since it debuted in 2011. The DEA has discovered that communications through iMessages cannot be fully captured during court-approved surveillance. Other law enforcement agencies have made enacting new regulations to ensure their ability to monitor and read messages sent across social and text networks a top priority this year.

Not Enough: Five software engineers cannot sue a number of Silicon Valley companies over alleged anti-poaching practices as a class action, Reuters notes. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh ruled on Friday that the plaintiffs had failed to provide sufficient commonality among their circumstances to permit the suit to proceed as a class action. However, the judge left the door open to new evidence that could allow class action certification. The engineers claim that companies including Apple, Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE), Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) illegally colluded not to lure away each other’s top employees, dampening worker compensation and breaching anti-trust laws.

For more about the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors stories.