MasterCard customers may soon be able to make their Online purchases more secure by verifying their identity with a selfie. The company will soon start testing a new technology that will allow shoppers to use fingerprints and facial scans to prevent fraudulent purchases. Users will have to download the MasterCard phone App and at checkout they will be asked to hold up their phone to stare and blink at it.
“The new generation, which is into selfies…I think they’ll find it cool. They’ll embrace it,” said Ajay Bhalla, security expert at the American financial services company MasterCard. This is MasterCard’s way of cutting down fraud.
MasterCard app plans to let you pay for things with a Selfie:
The trial will begin with 500 customers, who must use the MasterCard app on their phone, either presenting their finger prints or posing for the camera when prompted. If the trial run goes well, MasterCard hopes to take the technology to a wider pool of customers.
Simply using a photo of the real cardholder, users will be asked to blink to demonstrate that they are really there, not simply a static image. The resulting photo will be converted to code and compared to an algorithm on file.
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Currently, customers can set up something called “SecureCode,” which requires a password when shopping online. This stops credit-card-number-stealing hackers from actually using your card on the Web. It was used in 3 billion transactions last year, the company said.
New Biometric methods for verifying your identity:
But passwords get forgotten, stolen, or intercepted. So, banks are following Apple’s lead. The iPhone’s fingerprint scanner started a security revolution in 2013. Apple Pay showed that customers are willing to use biometrics to prove their identity.
The new biometric methods for verifying your identity could replace passwords or PIN codes. MasterCard currently asks for a password to verify purchases with its SecureCode system.
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Mr Bhalla said MasterCard is also experimenting with voice recognition, so people may be able to simply approve an online transaction by speaking to their phone. MasterCard is also working with a Canadian firm, Nymi, to develop technology that will approve transactions by recognising a person’s unique heartbeat.