MasterCard’s reasoning? It is easier to remember than a password. It also doesn’t hurt that this generation is into taking selfies whenever possible, hence the advent of the selfie stick. I think they’ll find it cool. The technology is designed to confirm a customer’s identity in order to make online purchases more secure and cut down on instances of credit card fraud.
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However, passwords can be forgotten, stolen, or intercepted. The iPhone’s fingerprint scanner started a security revolution in 2013.
Customers will first have to download the app on to their mobile device.
The pilot scheme will kick-off later this year come the autumn, involving around 500 participants. Once any bugs are fixed, it plans to launch the program publicly. “A pop-up will ask for your authorization after you pay for something”. If users choose fingerprint, it would ask for a fingerprint touch.
The company says that you will need to blink before it clicks a photo, which will prevent hackers from fooling the system with your photo.
According to MasterCard report, app will not store an image of a finger or face in the database because it is not safe.
MasterCard’s new app will convert the face scan into numbers that are sent to MasterCard via the internet. The company says a quarter of all credit card transactions are performed using a MasterCard.
Some cybersecurity experts are uncomfortable with the proposed technology, preferring that individuals’ personal data stay on thier phone. “From a privacy aspect it’s bad – but from a business perspective, I don’t understand why they’d accept that risk”. So nobody can’t pretend like they are you. They’ll embrace it. This seamlessly integrates biometrics into the overall payment experience.
“From the beginning of 2016 any new payment terminal that gets deployed must accept contactless, and every single terminal must accept it by 2020.” said Mike Cowan, head of emerging payments products at MasterCard at company’s Future of Payments event in London. Towards that end, MasterCard said that the new method will require online shoppers to simply click a “selfie” to authenticate a purchase transaction. The firm is also experimenting with voice recognition and even heartbeat recognition as well.
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So, up next: shopping with a fitness bracelet?
