Expanding its biometric offering, Mastercard will also enable customers to use fingerprint authentification via a downloadable app. A clear security concern here is that as well as authorizing payments by pointing a cameraphone at one’s face, the system might be foiled by simply using a photograph. You can choose to set a fingerprint or your face to be recognized for security purposes. This is to prevent someone from holding up a picture of the user to trick the system. This is for the new generation who likes to shop in the Internet yet are very forgetful. “And I’m sure they’re doing the appropriate stuff to guard it”, assured Phillip Dunkelpberger of biometrics firm Nok Nok Labs.
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Ajay Bhalla, MasterCard’s president for enterprise safety and security, said, “The credit card company won’t be able to re-create your face from the data on their servers, ensuring you keep the image of your face to yourself. They’ll embrace it.” If so, this will be a unique and potentially fun way to cut down on fraudulent purchases.
– If they prefer to use the selfie method, stare at the phone and blink once to pay. This stops credit-card-number-stealing hackers from actually using your card on the Web. All blink selfies are verified against this coded facial scan map that MasterCard claims can never be used to create a real photo of a person.
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Although Bhalla did not give a time-frame for the launch of the biometric security product, he did mention that the pilot programme will begin soon with 500 customers and be deployed widely later if everything tests out fine. MasterCard believes it will be much easier than remembering a password, reports CNN Money. MasterCard will be joining forces with tech leaders Apple, BlackBerry, Google, Samsung and Microsoft as well as two major banks to help make the feature a reality. And fingerprints and selfies are just the beginning for MasterCard, which is working out a way for you to authenticate an online transaction using your voice.
